


tomorrow, today, yesterday

by baechuzz



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alien Abduction, Alien Invasion, Blood and Injury, M/M, Memory Loss, Murder Mystery, Slow Burn, Small Towns, Strangers to Lovers, idiots to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:00:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 51,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27578860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baechuzz/pseuds/baechuzz
Summary: Arriving in Saker Keeper, Renjun expected one thing: to find more details about a dead teenager wearing his own face. His impromptu travel-buddy, Lee Donghyuck, stuck to his side, trouble, in unexpected shapes and forms found him quicker than he initially thought.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan
Comments: 19
Kudos: 79
Collections: '00 FIC FEST ROUND TWO





	1. yesterday

**Author's Note:**

> prompt #00050
> 
> thank you for the prompter for this wonderful prompt!! i don't know if i did it any justice but i had fun writing it!  
> and i'd like to thank mod bom for organizing this fest and for putting up with my endless extensions!! ♥

Renjun looked down at his wristwatch. It was 8:17 PM.

Sighing, he took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He’d spent the majority of his day at the library, searching for the ideal story for his journalism class. He’d lost count of how many articles he read about hero dogs and teenagers. He wanted something different, something that held attention—dogs and kids were cute, but they wouldn’t do it.

Also, the library was closing soon.

He set his glasses on the table and leant back in the chair. He stretched his arms above, his joints satisfyingly popping into place. When he inhaled, the smell of old, yellowed newspaper pages and dust filled his nostrils. The overachiever in him scoffed at the innocent thought that he could retire for the night. He still had 45 minutes. It was not enough to save the world but enough time to look through a few more papers.

With a low grunt, he put back his glasses and refocused on the stack in front of him. Being friendly with the library lady had its perks—he could work alone in the storage room without watchful gazes following each of his movements. The room was dark, windowless and dry to maintain the condition of the papers, a small cabinet where a few shelves and a table were shoved, tight even for a single person. Only the small table lamp brightened the room in orange hues.

His phone pinged loudly, signalling an incoming message.

**From: Jaem**

do not come home!!!

He scoffed. That bastard only wished.

He’d chosen the stacks randomly. As he pulled the heap of newspapers closer, he saw that those were from the ’80s. Great. He couldn’t wait to read about Madonna or _Back To The Future_ and its sequels over and over again. Reluctantly, he pulled the first copy to himself, skimming the first page about hurricane deaths. He quickly turned the page, his conscious having a hard time coping with so much death after the previous stack from the climax of the Cold War. Glorified political killings just weren't his cup of tea.

There was a burning sensation behind his eyes, a sure signal of spending way too much time in this dimly lit room, staring at age-old papers. While his bedtime was nowhere near, he felt like his eyelids weighed tons.

_A few more_ , he wagered with himself. _A few more and you can go home_.

It was already evident that he needed to return tomorrow, having come up with empty hands. He wondered how his coursemates were holding up—they were reluctant to join him in the library and decided to do their research on the Internet. Renjun liked to stay authentic and liked the smell of old paper, liked to feel it under his fingertips, the solid copied medium giving great comfort for him.

An article about alien abduction. A woman claimed her son had been taken by aliens and only a bad carbon copy was returned to her. Not bad. He quickly scribbled down the date of the newspaper and the title of the article with a few keywords. He wasn’t quite sure his conservative journalism professor would be satisfied with research on aliens. But he found, he didn’t care—the only one he wanted to impress was himself.

Which was why aliens were in, the nuclear threat of the Cold War was out.

He neatly folded the copy and reached for another. This went on for another 2 months worth of copies. He felt almost mechanical as he did that—skimming through the titles and subtitles, reading whatever caught his eyes, folding the paper, next. His speed-reading skills came handy now, finishing _The Explorer Chronicle_ from 1985 up from May to August.

At 8:53 PM, he was about to fold the last paper of August 31st, calling the day off when something caught his attention. He wasn’t sure what exactly, the title of ‘ _The Boy in the Woods_ ’ wasn’t as sensationalist as other titles. Also, it was just a small article, almost lost between other meaningless stuff. But he was pulled in, interest picking up as he read on.

A mysterious dead boy was found in the woods by clueless joggers. During the investigation about his death, no clue appeared. No one had known him from the small Oregon state town, where, otherwise everyone knew everyone. The oddest thing about the whole situation was that when the police decided on running a DNA test on him, trying to put a name to the dead set of eyes, they couldn’t do so. He had no fingerprints and the hair sample showed no match. Then turning to his dental records led to a dead end.

A cold case. Interesting.

It wouldn’t’ve surprised Renjun as much as it did—paperless immigrants murdered during the ’80s was not something that struck him false. But when his eyes slid onto the face of the boy he saw _himself_. A small gasp slipped through his lips.

He screwed his eyes shut tightly. No, it couldn’t be. His mind must be playing tricks on him. His tired eyes were seeing things that weren’t there. His bored mind was running wildly. He bit the insides of his cheeks and braced himself to look again, eyes opening in hope to catch another face, to laugh it off alone in this dingy room.

But it was him.

It was odd—seeing yourself dead in a black and white photo from the ’80s. The boy, screw it, _Renjun_ looked no more than fifteen there. Lifeless eyes stared straight back at him, his hair better trimmed than now but matted with mud and dirt, his clothes reflecting the fashion of the time. No bullet hole or knife wound could be seen. If it weren’t of his dead eyes, he would’ve thought he was just sleeping. His mouth felt dry, sudden shivers ran down his spine—there was no mistake. It was him. It was Renjun.

He had no time to comprehend when a small knock came from the door. Without thinking, he folded the newspaper and tucked it neatly underneath his farmer jacket. The librarian lady stepped in not even a moment later, annoyance clear on her wrinkled face.

“We’re closing,” she said. “Please return tomorrow. Alright, Mr Huang?”

Renjun scrambled to collect his things, his messenger bag and his notebook, carefully moving. He tried to plaster an honest smile on his face so he didn’t look as guilty as he felt. He had the intention to return the copy, after all, he reasoned to himself.

“Sorry.” Renjun nervously laughed. “Time flies when you enjoy yourself.”

He received a good-natured eye roll from the librarian. She tapped the table impatiently.

“Just hurry up, Mr Huang.”

When the cool air hit his red cheeks, he let out a deep breath. He’d been confined in the small storage room all day and now the vast dark sky seemed endless and he felt insignificant. He couldn’t see the stars, the light pollution taking away his chances to do so, yet it was still painfully beautiful.

He picked up his pace, the newspaper burning his side shamefully despite the chilly air. He wanted to be home, to see whether it was the lights that played him or it was true. He tried not to think about it while he was commuting home but questions were stubbornly stuck in his mind.

He opened his front door, silently praying that his roommate wasn’t having his boyfriend over. He had no luck.

“Stop sucking face on the couch. I’ll forward the cleansing bill to you later,” Renjun snapped as he kicked his shoes off.

They fluttered apart at his voice, but only Jeno had the decency to look ashamed. His roommate, Jaemin, sat on his boyfriend’s lap like it was quite normal.

“Injun! I thought you wouldn’t be home today,” Jaemin called with his signature sharp smile that told Renjun, _piss off._ He was about to be disappointed.

“No, Jaemin. I planned to return to the apartment I’m paying half the rent and bills for,” Renjun scoffed. “Sorry, I’m not sleeping under a bridge so you two can fuck around.”

“Sorry, Renjun. I’d better head home,” Jeno said, pushing Jaemin gently off his lap. Renjun didn’t want to admit his fondness for Jeno, always so kind and polite but if he did so, Jeno would never leave.

Renjun, feeling gracious, just waved him off. “Stay, if that was the plan.”

He turned to Jaemin with narrowed eyes. “But no weird noises.”

Jeno nodded. Jaemin just shrugged, mouthing to Renjun ‘ _No promises_ ’. Renjun long ago gave up arguing with Jaemin over things like inviting his boyfriend over or his voyeuristic tendencies—but he was a good guy, honest to the boots and not emotionally constipated which was a great point. Even though he had the tendencies to antagonize Renjun, he was a perfect match for a roommate for him.

With a deep sigh that, Renjun hoped, had transferred his displeasure for them, he returned to his room and clicked the lock in place. It wasn’t necessary—Jaemin and Jeno were busy with each other—yet it gave him the feeling of security he needed.

He shredded his denim jacket and carefully pulled out the newspaper copy. It felt so strange in his hand, so out of place with its yellowed pages and dusty smell. A piece of history that he stole from the library — so insignificant and lithe, no one would ever miss it. _Yet_. Yet it held something for Renjun. An uncomfortable heat coiled in his stomach, quickening his heartbeat as he was finally allowed to freak out, to finally give up rationalizing his thoughts and just let himself feel.

He turned his lamp on and slapped _The Explorer Chronicle_ on the table, knocking down his knick-knacks on the way. He didn't care. His tired eyes focused on the picture again. The black and white picture hadn’t changed. There was the boy, laying on his back, his limbs carefully tucked to his side, eyes wide and staring. Nothing in the photo indicated that the boy on it was dead, except the hollowed and distant expression on his face. The face that was frozen into a look of surprise, forever. And Renjun had to conclude — it was him in the picture. No lights or mind tricks. There was his birthmark adoring the boy's hand, same place, same faded hues. It was him.

The realization should’ve chilled him to the bone. It might be the prolonged break until it solidified in him, or the sound of the bustling city that laid under his window that dimmed its edge. But he let his knees buckle under him and plummeted on the soft embrace of his mattress, the paper still clutched in his hands.

He didn't understand. He couldn't understand.

There was a boy, seemingly a younger version of himself, lying dead in the woods in 1985. Renjun shot up from the bed. He wanted to come up with a rational explanation as he circled in the small confinement of his room but it was nothing easily explainable. He heard of people having a twin somewhere in the world — but wasn't that just a theory? Also, the birthmark irked him. Even if they looked alike, the boy couldn't have the same mark on his body, same placement, same colour. That was just impossible.

How was this possible?

He reminded himself of what he had read. No fingerprints, no DNA. No one knew the boy when he turned up dead in the woods. Probably no one reported him as a missing person, otherwise, he would have a name. Renjun tore off his glasses from his face and rubbed his tired eyes. His thoughts were flashing through his mind 200 kph, new ideas appearing from ridiculous to unbelievable.

He closed his eyes and saw himself, lying in the mud, face almost serene in his death. Curiosity filled every fibre of his being, so he pulled his laptop to himself and booted it up. He quickly typed in the keywords, hoping that the search engine wouldn't throw up some gory images.

As he read on, almost no information was available. He found a few more articles in different newspapers from that time but none said more than the first one he found. It annoyed him, how there was a case of a mystery and no one ever tried to dig after it. The Boy in the Woods stayed unquestioned and undisturbed. The police dropped the case as it led nowhere, another addition to the cold cases. But still — something should've happened. Some leads, some witnesses. But no, it was a perfect murder, a perfect crime.

He slammed the laptop shut and took in a shuddering breath. Something nagged in his mind, might be curiosity or plain dread, that made him took out an old, forgotten diary with its own yellowed pages and forgotten memories. He hated having the diary open, the pages glared and mocked at him with things he didn’t remember. He still flipped it open on an empty page and wrote,

**_I died in 1985, on the last day of August, when I was about 15 years old._ **

****

**_No DNA. No fingerprints. No leads. No suspects. No name._ **

****

**_Saker Keeper_ **

He already knew what he had to do.

***

His professor looked at Renjun like he went mad. "You want to go there? And for what?"

"I want to investigate it myself."

"Mr Huang, you're currently preparing to be a journalist, not a police officer," Mr Choi said, looking at the photocopied version of the 1985 August copy of _The Explorer Chronicle_. He peeked back at Renjun, comparing the faces on the photo with the real-life one. He huffed, almost amused. "I appreciate that you're keen on doing a real investigation but on the other hand, you have no means to solve a 35 years old mystery."

Renjun pursed his lips. This was going as well as he expected. He pointed at the picture. "This is me here. I have the same birthmark, the same face. Heck, I even had the same type of hairstyle when I was at this age. This is _me_ and I want to know what happened."

Mr Choi's face turned stern as he explained, yet his eyes still flickered back and forth between the picture and Renjun. "Are you trying to tell me that something supernatural was involved there? That you died and were resurrected?"

"I'm trying to tell you that I don't know. That is why I want to go there myself."

Mr Choi sighed and set the paper on the table. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

"Mr Huang. You're a great student. But this thing — this is insane to even consider. Do you want to wind up being the person who is reporting from all those crazy people talking about alien abductions or aggressive poltergeists? Or do you want to be the journalist on the first page?”

Renjun pursed his lips into a thin line. He somehow anticipated this kind of reaction of the old man — always the non-believer. Renjun’s fingers tightened on the edge of the desk, knuckles whitening. He couldn’t let this go.

"Trust me on this, Professor," he said. For a long moment, Mr Choi just looked at him, considering him. Renjun noticed how his eyes slipped down on the photocopied image of the dead boy, then he nodded.

"Okay. I trust your gut feeling. One month. I give you one month to do this."

“Thank you.”

***

Renjun hiked up his backpack. As he stood there and looked down the small town in front of him, the neat little houses with big backyards, the old and dampened buildings from the olden times, the pine woods that embraced the town like a mother would her child, excitement rushed through his body. He pulled in the pine tree scented air, cold and fresh in his pollution-filled lungs. It cleared his mind.

Looking around, his first impression was that nothing ever happens in this town. He supposed, he was in the middle of the centre, neat little shops residing all around. It felt odd, after coming straight from the city – the relative silence, the smog-free air, the lack of busy crowds. He felt like he threaded into a place he did not belong to, a close-knitted community that loved its own remoteness. The trees formed an impenetrable wall around the town, isolating and hiding the place furthermore.

He fished out his phone to snap a picture and send a message to Jaemin, just for good measure.

**To: Jaem**

[picture]

i’m here

do not wreck the apartment

He parked the rented car in front of the store on his way to the motel and stepped out to buy some chips and a few cups of instant noodles for dinner. He strode on the pavement, looking around, mentally checking all the things he might need in the future, unaware that all life seized to a halt and focused on him.

First, he didn't notice the silence that overtook the streets. There weren’t many people lingering on out there during work hours. It took him some time to realize, walking past frozen bodies and staring eyes. His footsteps became deafening, his own breathing too loud even to his ears. He felt like he was walking in a vacuum. He peeked around, suddenly nervous. Small groups of people, who were deep in conversation just a moment before, turned to follow him with their gazes as he disappeared into the store.

He got it, he was the new face in town. Ogling the shiny, new stranger was supposedly one of the biggest things that happened here. And still, Renjun couldn’t stop the shivers that ran down his spine. He tried to smile at the pimpled teenager cashier behind the counter but he just continued gaping at him and nodded. Renjun, trying to shake it off as paranoia and too much time spent watching true-crime serieses, grabbed a few things at random and walked to the counter.

“Good day, right?” He tried to initiate a conversation. His voice sounded too loud in the lingering silence, too bright for this dingy old store. No one moved in the store since he walked in, only the incoming customers created some noise. The bell tinkled continuously from the flow of incoming customers, filling in the rows. “It gets quite cold here in the winter, I suppose. It’s nice to have some warmth before it comes.”

“Yes sir," the boy mumbled, avoiding looking at Renjun, despite staring at him, not a moment before. He quickly scanned his items but it was still not fast enough. Renjun felt the gazes of the other customers bore into his skull. He wanted to get out of the store. He was never the one to get anxious over uncalled attention from strangers but a sweat drop rolled down on his neck.

_That's okay,_ he thought. _Once they get used to you, it will be okay._

He heard a fly buzz by him. Suddenly everything was too loud: the beeping of the cash register, the ticking of the clock, the breathing of the people. It got him nervous, a pin could drop and he would've heard it. He wanted to get out of there. Screw the groceries, this was suffocating him. Wherever he glanced, pairs of disdainful eyes stared right back at him, always multiplying and growing more aggressive. He couldn't hear anyone moving, yet it seemed like they came closer each time he glanced back over his shoulder. Like in a nightmare when the monster was out there to get him and his legs were rooted; impossible to run.

"Is it always so crowded?" Renjun willed his voice to stay carefree like he didn't notice the mob crowding in the small store.

The teenager unwillingly glanced up at him and Renjun’s breath hitched in his throat. His eyes radiated so much hatred, it took Renjun by surprise. "No. It's because of _you_."

Renjun opened his mouth and he closed it. The boy was finally bagging his stuff, way too slow for Renjun's liking. He had his cash ready to slam it down on the counter so he could get the fuck out there.

The bell on the top of the entrance door jingled once again and Renjun winced. It meant one more body to push through.

"What's up with the crowd, Jisung?" A loud, cheerful voice boomed through the silent store, a smile hiding in his tone.

The cashier perked up, finally real emotions taking over his otherwise passive features.

"Hey Donghyuck," Jisung beamed. He no longer seemed dangerous. "As per usual?"

"You know me too well, Jisung."

From the corner of his eye, Renjun saw the newcomer swagger his way to the counter beside him. He hadn’t found the willpower to look at him, even though he didn't seem to be in that odd kind of trance-like state as the other townsfolk were. Slowly, life commenced again. The sound of small murmurs and sloppy footfalls filled the air and Renjun could finally breathe again. When he looked back, no one was staring at him.

A hand clasped on his shoulder, the grip tight and fingers digging into his denim jacket. Renjun jumped at the touch. With furrowed eyebrows, he turned around to face the rude stranger.

“Can I help you?” Renjun tried to be as polite as possible. He softly shook off the hand from his shoulder, still quite on the edge from the happenings before. The stranger was a man around his age, sun-kissed skin and silvery hair curling above wide dark eyes – _beautiful_ , Renjun thought. His simple white shirt and black leather jacket screamed outsider but he couldn’t be sure.

“You are—”

“Huang Renjun. Nice to meet—”

With a confused expression etched to his face, he said, “Sorry. Suddenly I thought I knew you from somewhere.”

"No. I don't think we do."

He shook his head, the silver curls bouncing around. The cashier impatiently tapped on the hardwood of the counter and Renjun quickly paid. When he turned back, the man was still looking at him. Renjun adjusted the glasses on his nose and started to leave this goddamned store when the man placed his hand back on his shoulder.

"Excuse me. That was quite rude," he let out an embarrassed little giggle. He let go of Renjun and trusted his hand out for a handshake. "I'm Lee Donghyuck."

Renjun nodded sternly. He was above being polite for now, so he glanced down at his hand and back to the brightly glinting brown eyes.

Donghyuck snorted, retreating his arm. “I guess I deserved that.”

“I guess you did,” Renjun nodded. “You know my name already.”

“You’re not from here, right?” Donghyuck asked as he quickly fished a few coins out of the back pocket of his jeans. He paid for the awful looking coffee that made the insides of Renjun churn by looking at it, all cream and foam, and then all the spotlight of his attention turned back at him. Renjun thought about leaving before, but now it seemed impossible. “I don’t mean it like a bad thing. It’s just not every day to meet a fellow traveller in the middle of nowhere.”

"You're… Not from here?" Renjun asked, even though it was obvious. The other had something in his gaze that screamed city boy, even if the over friendliness he presented just now said otherwise.

Donghyuck laughed and it rang through the store. "Ah, thank God no. I would be bored to death, right Jisung?"

At Donghyuck's twinkling gaze Jisung, the cashier, scratched the back of his neck with a sheepish expression and Renjun, for a moment, grew unsure if the looming danger and the hostile myriad of gazes really had happened.

“Nothing ever happens here,” Jisung agreed, clearly having the hots for Donghyuck and he only addressed his reply to him. Renjun ceased to exist for him, not when the city boy with his silver curls and bright set of pearly whites held all his attention. “At least nothing happened before you came.”

Preening under attention, Donghyuck threw back his head with laughter that rang like bells and patted the cashier’s floppy brown hair.

“I’m honoured you think I’m _that_ entertaining,” he purred. Turning to Renjun, he continued, "My car broke down the other day near to this town and it’s a nightmare to get service here, so Johnny down the road is trying to breathe life into the old lady. And I’m stuck here on an impromptu vacation.”

“Why here?”

“I don’t know. Why here, Renjun?” The question aimed at him held no malice. Not when a flirty smile accompanied it.

Still, it caught him off guard. With his blabbering nature, Donghyuck seemed like someone who would tell whole life stories before he thought of even asking about someone else’s day. Yet, he averted the question masterfully, rediverting it on Renjun.

Something told him he shouldn’t reveal the true cause of his presence. At least not now, not here. The anticipation for the answer oozed off the cashier and Renjun was not about to give him the satisfaction.

“You would like to know, wouldn't you?” Renjun scoffed. He adjusted the glasses perched on his nose. "And goodbye for now. I hope you get your car fixed soon."

It took a few seconds for Donghyuck to realize what he’d just heard because Renjun was already in the parking lot when he heard the bell of the store jingle and rapid footsteps nearing him.

“Wait!” Donghyuck called after him but Renjun didn't feel like stopping. He quickened his steps toward his rented car, tightly cuddling his bag of instant food to his chest. He hoped the city boy would just take the hint and leave him alone. As he walked he caught sight of people gawking at him and he bit the inside of his cheeks. They all turned away when Donghyuck looked around.

Huh.

“Wait, goddamnit!” Donghyuck clasped his hand around his shoulder. Renjun stepped away from him, far enough that he couldn’t touch him. Donghyuck let his hand fall. He was breathing heavily, chest rising rapidly. “Can I catch a ride with you? I assume you're staying at the townsite motel, too.”

“No.”

“Please! We're going the same way.”

"No," he repeated. He opened the door of his car and threw his bag on the passenger seat before he turned back to Donghyuck. “Look. I don’t know you. You don’t know me. For all you know, I could be a serial killer.”

Donghyuck just shook his head with a small giggle, mirth collecting in his eyes.

“I don’t think so. What are the chances for two to be in the same car?” He snickered at his own joke and Renjun felt an immense amount of need to shut the car door in his face. Seeing his little joke not breaking the ice, urgency took over Donghyuck’s poise as he hastily explained. “That was obviously a joke.”

Renjun nodded, deadpan. “Obviously.”

Donghyuck shifted from one leg to another, awkwardness sweeping into his body as Renjun let the silence stretch. He saw Donghyuck open and close his mouth repeatedly, unsure whether he’d blow his chance on snatching a ride once he opened his mouth. Renjun was feeling petty so seeing him grow agitated was like a gulp of fresh air and he almost forgot his thumping need to disappear.

“So — will you give me a ride?” Donghyuck still asked.

“Huh, persistent, aren’t we?" Renjun shook his head, clicking his tongue. The joy he felt about antagonising Donghyuck needed to come to an end because he had to check-in for the motel room. His leather wristwatch read he had less than ten minutes and no idea where the building was. So he smiled, sweetly, watching the hope bloom on the open face of Donghyuck, so he could crush it. “Still a no.”

“Well, that’s too bad.”

Before Renjun could move, Donghyuck slipped over the hood of the car, tore the door open and jumped in. He was careful enough not to crush his bag but not careful enough to avoid colliding with Renjun.

“It’s such a pity you’re so annoying when you’re so hot,” Donghyuck complained as he rubbed his shoulder. “Have you ever tried being nice? It's a very rewarding trait.”

Renjun held onto the steering wheel, knuckles growing white as he tried to will down the growing heat in his cheeks. When he thought he was safe enough, he turned to look at Donghyuck.

“Like if you knew,” Renjun snarled at him. “Now, get out of the car.”

“What?”

“Get out," he said, articulating each word carefully.

“Nah. I’m pretty comfy here,” Donghyuck said as he adjusted his seat and leaned back. He began rummaging through Renjun’s groceries on his lap, pulling a bag of chips out and opening it without asking. “Ah, these are my favourites.”

“I’m going to punch you.”

Donghyuck looked like the cat who just got the cream. “Do it, pretty boy. I have a black belt in Taekwondo.”

“And I have the rage to still take you out.”

Donghyuck shrugged and stuffed a fistful of chips into his mouth. Seeing Renjun near losing all of it, Donghyuck offered some of it to him.

“You can do that but I bet you don't know where the motel exactly is and for whatever reason, the GPS doesn't work here. Just a heads up,” Donghyuck articulated around the mouthful of chips. He looked too pleased.

Renjun scoffed. “Is this your argument for why I should take you with me? That's pathetic if you ask me.”

“Luckily, I didn't ask,” Donghyuck snickered.

Renjun had to give it to him that he was persistent at the very least. Persistently annoying. But seeing as Donghyuck put the seatbelt on and looked at him expectantly, he saw no sense in continuing bickering when Donghyuck planted himself into the car with no intention of getting out. Renjun started the engine. He was playing a losing game from the get-go.

“At least stop eating my food,” he said and snatched the bag away from Donghyuck’s lap.

Donghyuck let out a strangled groan as he tried to get back his snack but Renjun threw it on the backseat.

“I was doing you a favour. The junk you've just bought isn't really good for your health,” he complained. “Your little body needs its veggies to grow taller.”

Renjun rolled his eyes.

“Please make yourself useful and tell me the directions,” he spat through gritted teeth. Donghyuck beside him dared to jut his lip out and stare at him with wide eyes. A bouncy silver curl fell into his eye and Renjun turned away before his traitorous mind turned to putty in his head and he did something embarrassing like reach out and caress back the lock.

“Is it really how you treat new acquaintances? Seriously, I misspoke once and you’re ready to castrate me. A bit of empathy would be a lot to ask? I’m just human after all.”

Renjun backed out of the parking lot maybe a bit more aggressively than it was smart. He took great joy seeing Donghyuck grapple for something to hold onto.

“Fuck you, Donghyuck,” Renjun hissed. “I met you no more than 15 minutes ago and you’re already the most annoying person I had the misfortune to know.”

A moment of silence fell over them. Renjun wondered if that was too harsh if he hurt his feelings. Risking a glance at him, it was foolish to even consider hurting this demon’s feelings.

“Oh my God. That was hot,” Donghyuck said, hands dramatically clutching his chest. “Do that again.”

“What?”

He leaned closer to Renjun while he said, “Cuss me out again.”

Renjun hit the break suddenly, hurtling both of their bodies forward. A car behind them honked and violently bypassed them. Renjun was pretty sure the driver held up a middle finger for them. 

“Get out. Now,” Renjun ordered. In the cramped space of the car, Donghyuck was too close and he could easily read the embarrassment off his face, how his ears pinked and his cheeks got heated. Plus, Renjun didn’t need to get to know him any better to already be aware that was how Donghyuck played his cards. Shamelessly and in your face.

Renjun was no stranger to flirting but being so blatantly flirted with was completely new and strange — especially coming from a pretty person like Donghyuck, with his ruffled silvery hair and wide eyes and delicious honey skin. It was unfamiliar and unnerving at the same time. And maybe Renjun was overreacting, but the stares of the people in the town still lingered in his mind, affecting the way he responded to Donghyuck. 

“Not into dirty talk. Okay, duly noted.” Donghyuck sighed, hand massaging his chest where the seat belt prevented him from flying out of the windshield. “Then what are you into?”

“Quiet, non-creepy boys who have a general knowledge what no means and don't force themselves into my car,” Renjun listed as he started the car again.

Donghyuck hummed.

“That’s oddly specific. Makes one wonder.” He put his legs up on the dashboard, dirty red Converses staining the black plastic with a mixture of dust and dry mud. Renjun was about to tell him off for that when Donghyuck lazily turned his attention on him, and with a half-smile, he said, “Anyway, you’re really cute when you’re angry, y’know. I just can’t help it.”

“You’re pushing it, Donghyuck. It’d be a lot smarter to stay quiet.”

“A lot smarter but also a lot duller,” he retorted cheekily. He started pushing buttons on the radio until some pop song began blasting through the stereo. He loudly began singing, only stopping in mid-sentence to send quick instructions to Renjun.

Now, this wasn’t half as bad as before. Without Donghyuck’s loud mouth running and making Renjun feel embarrassed, his company was — tolerable. Even he risked saying: he enjoyed himself with Donghyuck's impromptu concert. It reminded him of coming of age movies about road trips and reckless kisses, and he regretted that the air outside was too cold to let the windows down and let the wind ruffle their hair and pinch their cheeks into a pretty pink. He tapped the rhythm of the song on the steering wheel, humming the chorus.

He wouldn’t say aloud but this was almost nice. He glanced at Donghyuck, his handsome face pinched into a concentration as he tried to push a ridiculously high note out of himself. He did, after all, voice cracking only at the end. He continued smugly, exchanging a glance with Renjun — his mirthful eyes calling him out for having fun.

Donghyuck was about to open his mouth and say something when Renjun refocused on the road and held up one finger to silence him.

“Shh, don’t ruin it.”

“I just—”

“No.”

“This is the place.” Donghyuck patted his shoulder and pointed at the dirty building at his side of the road. He probably wouldn’t have needed to call Renjun’s attention to the motel if he wasn’t so preoccupied on keeping his imaginary peace up, because of a huge neon billboard advertising the place shone blindingly into his eyes.

Renjun stared at the red neon light flickering on and off. With the sun setting behind the dense row of trees, letting little to no light filter through them, whenever the red light came on, it painted its surrounding thick walls of trees in bloody hues. Renjun pursed his lips into a thin line and turned his eyes away from the almost gory sight, stomach unconsciously shrinking.

Donghyuck let his hand rest on the back of his seat, leaning into Renjun’s personal space.

“It’s no five-star hotel but I haven’t seen a cockroach yet in my week-long stay, so it’s pretty good for a small town like this,” he explained with a small smile that never seemed to disappear from his lips. He batted his eyelashes furiously. “You know, we can save some money by staying in one room. I have to warn you, though. There is only one bed.”

“At least take me out for dinner first,” Renjun grunted as he parked the car in front of the motel. The parking lot in front of the building was deserted. The red light flashed on and red waves crashed against the dirty white walls of the building, painting Donghyuck red beside him. Then darkness came again, sweet, serene and peaceful.

Donghyuck faltered for a moment, clearly surprised how Renjun easily gave in to him. But he overcame his surprise with a satisfied purr.

“That’s completely manageable. I’ll be at your door at, let’s say,” Donghyuck said without hesitation in his voice, etching closer to Renjun. He pulled Renjun’s arm to his eye-level to read the time off his wristwatch. “9 PM. And we’ll work out the details.”

Renjun stopped the engine and turned to look into Donghyuck’s expectant eyes. “Perfect. I’ll prepare an exorcism for you for that time then, demon.”

Donghyuck groaned. “Ah, when I thought you were giving in.”

"Keep dreaming," Renjun said and closed the door in Donghyuck's face.

Renjun took a moment, while his impromptu travel buddy scrambled out of the car, to consider the roadside motel. It didn't make sense to have one here — the whole place almost seemed haunted. He could count the number of cars he had seen during their trip here in one hand. Even now, his rented car was the only car parking in the lot.

When he accidentally glanced at the glass entrance door, he met with a pair of intently staring eyes. He sucked in a breath.

"It's okay. You can sleep on it and decide later," Donghyuck said as he bounced to him, hiding the bag of groceries behind his back.

Not receiving a response and not taking well being ignored, Donghyuck snapped his fingers in front of Renjun's face twice. He resurfaced immediately.

"What?" he barked.

Donghyuck studied him for a moment, lips pursing and eyes narrowing.

"What?" Renjun repeated, milder than before.

Donghyuck shrugged and began walking. "Never mind."

Renjun took a moment to stare at Donghyuck’s retreating form, his perfectly straight back and long legs, his silver hair bouncing with every step he took. The bag of groceries dangled by his side and Renjun made a mental note to get that back later. He focused solely on Donghyuck as he made his way to the motel, every movement that took him closer to the place was dreadful. He didn’t dare to look through the glass door again, afraid of what he’d seen just now wouldn’t disappear with Donghyuck in sight.

Renjun jogged the remaining few steps.

"Your offer of sharing a room is highly suspicious. Are you planning to murder me in my sleep?" he asked, bumping his shoulder to Donghyuck’s, good-natured. Renjun decided to try and play nice for once as the other seemed like the only one in this town who didn’t have a personal vendetta against him.

“Not really. I’d rather keep you alive.”

“And why’s that?”

The flirty smirk that bloomed on Donghyuck’s lips was an answer in itself.

“I changed my mind, don’t say anything.”

Renjun opened the door for Donghyuck to go ahead, receiving a badly executed curtsey for it. He didn’t want to step inside first, the bad feeling in his stomach coiling and growing stronger. He felt like he willingly and consciously walked into a trap.

“Hey, Hyunjin. What's up?” Donghyuck’s voice filled the small lobby. He shamelessly draped himself over the counter, resting his chin in his hand to bat his eyelashes at the pretty girl behind the counter. Without waiting for an answer, he thrust a thumb at Renjun’s general direction. “My _good_ friend here, Renjun, would like a room. Preferably right next to mine.”

Donghyuck stage whispered the last bit, an ever-growing grin on his lips. Renjun didn't know what he did in his previous life to deserve this walking torture that was Lee Donghyuck. With a frown, Renjun pushed him away from the counter, bracing himself to try and have a conversation with a person of this town once again.

“Please don't listen to him. I don't even know who he is, he just follows me around. But yeah. I'd like a room.”

The girl, Hyunjin, stared right back at him. She was young and pretty, with her long black hair and sharp, feline eyes. She searched Renjun’s face for a moment, then she turned her eyes at his hands resting on the counter – most precisely, on his birthmark. For a moment, Renjun thought the lights played him as he reckoned he saw her eyes turn dark, swimming with something deep that scared Renjun. He lightly shook his head – exhaustion was making him see things. Hyunjin stepped back, slowly backing away until her back hit the wall. Her expression was blank, her eyes empty as she focused on Renjun.

“ _You_ ,” Hyujin said, eyes wide like saucers and jaw hanging loose, “you’re not supposed to be here.”

“Why?” Renjun asked, blinking with confusion. The whole town was giving him creeps and he was too gullible to resist it.

“As _I_ was saying,” Donghyuck rolled his eyes, oblivious of both of them. “He’d like a room next to mine.”

At his voice, Hyunjin broke out of her trance – the way the cashier boy did. She forced a smile on her lips but she still looked shaken, eyes still hollowed and haunted. Renjun wanted to push her, to ask again, the curiosity inside of him brewing – yet, he kept his mouth shut. It was not the time, he decided. He wasn’t in a good mental place right now.

“Yeah,” she breathed. “Yes, of course.”

She unhooked a key from the wall and with trembling hands, she delivered it to Renjun. She turned to an ancient computer and began typing away, her fingers flying on the keyboard.

“Name: Huang Renjun,” she whispered. The click-clacking of the typing echoed in the empty lobby. She automatically began to fill out the rest of the form but backtracked quickly. She turned to Renjun and opened her mouth, then closed it. Instead of asking any questions, she fished a yellowed paper form out from a drawer and slapped it on the counter with a pen. “Please fill this out. How long are you planning to stay?”

“Two weeks. For now.”

Donghyuck perked up at that but didn’t say anything. He lingered close to the counter, munching away the free candy from the bowl and hovering over Renjun’s shoulder to read off the form while Renjun paid beforehand for his stay – he might regret it later, he thought, as he wasn’t feeling it in himself to bear for so long with this anomaly of a town. Hyunjin was still odd; less so than any of the others but still odd.

Pocketing the key for his room, he wondered, rather positively, that this would pass. The wonder of the novelty would wear off in a few days. After all, they were all alright with Donghyuck now. Maybe it took them time to accept the presence of an outsider, especially one who showed up on purpose. Maybe they were as freaked out and untrusting as he was. Maybe they just needed to see that Renjun brought no harm, that he was here for a good cause – because finding the murderer of a 15-year-old boy was not a crime, right?

“Hey, do you know her?” Donghyuck inquired, breaking Renjun out of his reverie. He didn’t even realize they were standing in front of his motel room.

“Hyunjin? No.” He shook his head. He thought back at the awkward exchange and couldn’t come up with anything that would suggest Donghyuck they did. “Why?”

“Weird,” Donghyuck said as he popped a lollipop into his mouth. He shrugged. “She called you by your full name.”

***

The next morning, when Renjun sat in the diner not far away from the motel, nursing a mug of warm coffee, he thought that yesterday was not a mistake. Only a few people lingered in the diner, regulars from the town and all of them stared at him with hostile gazes. Those who had their back to him peeked over their shoulders, subtlety completely missing from their actions. He expected as much, having the arrival of an outsider, travel like wildfire among the close-knitted community.

He still didn’t understand the hostility, though.

He focused back on his notebook, writing, then crossing things out. He wasn’t sure where to start his research. Would talking to people who lived here in 1985 be better or should he start by visiting the nearby police station? Neither of the two seemed too inviting when all people did here was to stare at him. He still felt their eyes boring holes into his whole being, he felt the looks everywhere – it clung to his body like wet clothes and he couldn’t get rid of them. He let the pen drop from his hand, and he buried his head into his palms. Not having a clear path which he could begin conducting the research was bad enough, every trial of conversation running into resentment was worse.

He didn’t need to turn around to see Donghyuck swaggering into the place because the people who were staring at Renjun, now turned away from him, the tense atmosphere dissolving into adoration. There was an exchange of a stream of _hellos_ and _how are yous_ , marking his path.

“I’m pretty sure that’s mine, Donghyuck,” Renjun commented dryly as he watched Donghyuck show up with a plate of steaming waffles. He wore the same leather jacket, ripped jeans and the red Converse sneakers trio just like yesterday – and it was unfair how boyishly handsome it made him look.

“We must’ve ordered the same thing. I’m just lucky that Tiffany there, the absolute angel she is, handed me mine while you, unlucky devil, have to wait for it. The cook is out for a smoke, so good waiting. He smokes like a pack in one go.” Donghyuck snorted with delight and plopped down on the seat in front of Renjun’s, uninvited.

He looked somehow displaced on the tacky yellow seat, something that screamed inherently ‘80s and he still acted as if he belonged here. He stuffed a waffle into his mouth unceremoniously and snatched away Renjun’s mug of coffee to chase it down with the scorching liquid. He grimaced.

“Jesus, put some sugar and cream in it,” Donghyuck spat but despite his disgust, he still took another gulp of it. He peered over the brim at Renjun, with a suspicious expression. “No offence, but I find it highly suspicious how you brought murder and serial killers up yesterday and now you’re sitting there, drinking this liquid tire juice and zoning out with a blank expression. Are you, and I’m just wondering, contemplating murder in this great morning?”

“Why are you talking so much at—” Renjun looked down his wristwatch, exasperated yet still glad of the constant stream of consciousness that broke the eerie silence from before. Donghyuck didn’t need to know. “6 AM?”

Donghyuck narrowed his eyes, sending one last look at Renjun that told ‘ _I know what you’re up to_ ’ before he shrugged. Maple syrup dripped down on his chin as he took another bite from the waffle and he hastily took a napkin to wipe it away. He threw the crumpled up napkin at Renjun but he missed.

“Sleep is for the weak. But also, it’s too silent. I’m used to hearing the noise of the city and now – it’s just silence.” Donghyuck pulled his mouth to the side. Renjun nodded along. He came around accepting and liking the life pulsing through the city all night long in his shitty apartment he rented to be closer to his university.

“You alone make up for the noise for the whole town.” Renjun patted his hand, reassuring and mocking at the same time. Donghyuck perked up at the touch.

“Oh, Renjun. You don’t even know,” he said, raising an eyebrow but the effect was dimmed by the next second as he wolfed down the rest of the waffles. “I’d have offered you some but I’m starving. I’ll let you have the fresh ones because I’m that nice.”

“Thanks, Donghyuck. I owe you one,” Renjun said sarcastically but it had no grip on the other who saluted happily with two fingers. He ignored the deep instinct to antagonize the city boy just for a little while longer, and leaned forward on his elbows, taking on his journalist-to-be mode. He decided, whilst he watched Donghyuck stuff his face, that the perfect first subject for his questions was him. “So tell me, how do you find this town?”

“Pretty quiet. Full of nice people. Yes. That’s all I can say. It’s a bit boring here.” Donghyuck thought for a little while. Then he mirrored Renjun’s stance, head cocked to the side as he took Renjun in. “Y’know, you never told me why you’re here. And I heard you’ve already paid for at least two weeks here.”

“It’s me who is asking the questions—”

“Says who?” Donghyuck shook his head, completely serious. Heat rose in Renjun’s cheeks but he didn’t want to know if it was either caused by Donghyuck’s jarring bluntness or his own foolishness.

“Me.”

“That’s not quite enough, darling.”

Renjun snatched back the mug of coffee from Donghyuck and slowly drank from it to stretch the time. Donghyuck was right – it tasted horrible. Still, he leaned back and crossed his leg, challenging Donghyuck to press the matter further. In a way Renjun felt like he was participating in a pissing contest for territory and however petty he was, he should've known in their less than twenty-four hours of acquaintance that Donghyuck was a multitude of that pettiness.

"So. I've noticed you carry a notepad with you everywhere, mulling over words and crossing them out feverishly like you were from, I don't know, the ‘90s. You _are_ aware that we have computers in this century, aren’t you?"

"Donghyuck, I'm sorry to break it to you but people still write on paper,” Renjun explained with a sigh. He quickly slipped his notebook back to his messenger bag, to get it out of Donghyuck’s line of view. "I'm concerned about you and your worldview."

"Whatever. If you are so concerned, we can take it to the bathroom," Donghyuck said with a badly executed wink. "You can show me your views."

“That was disgusting.”

“I’m trying.” Donghyuck flicked a silver lock out of his eye. “So?”

“So what?”

“What are you doing here? A writer’s retreat? Aren’t you too young for that?” he asked, his eyes flickering on Renjun’s attire. He grimaced. “Or too old. I can never guess – how come you dress like the retired English teacher I had a crush on in high school?”

“Sorry I don’t dress like a greaser. My bad.”

Donghyuck leant his chin on his palm, clearly amused.

“You’re avoiding the question.”

“Because it has nothing to do with you,” Renjun spat. He downed the rest of his coffee, already cold. Rummaging through his bag, he slammed a few dollars on the table that roughly covered his non-eaten breakfast. "Now, goodbye."

Renjun jumped up from his seat and began marching to the door. He didn't know why it disturbed him so much that Donghyuck saw through his bullshit so easily and called him out on that, or why he became so tactless when he was facing him. Maybe all of this was his anxiety-induced brain messing up, fueled by the townsfolk odd behaviour and the sudden environmental change. He never did well in new places.

Renjun got out of the diner and the smell of the crispy clean air and pine trees filled his nostrils. It was nice. Being alone like this was nice. As he peeked up, rain clouds were gathering on the otherwise brilliant blue sky. His mood fell. Depending on his impulses, he wanted to wander around the woods, just to see with his two eyes the crime scene. Even if 35 years washed away every minuscule trace.

"It sucks. It rains almost every day."

He jumped from the sudden voice and Donghyuck grinned at him widely. Renjun didn't hear him come out.

"Your exit was very dramatic. Were you a theatre kid?"

"Whatever, Donghyuck."

Renjun began walking on the roadside, mud covering his shoes quickly. Like a lost puppy, Donghyuck followed him, hands stuffed into his pockets, his loud mouth on a roll.

"I just can't imagine you singing show tunes, but hey, no judgement," Donghyuck said, whistling brightly. "So what are we gonna do today?"

Renjun spun around to face him, the other trading on the last of his nerves.

" _We_ ," Renjun pointed at himself then at the other, pushing his finger into Donghyuck's chest with more vigour than it was necessary. "We won't do anything together today. Get lost."

"But I'm bored." He pouted, his bad-boy act flying out of the window.

"Yes. And I don't care. Find others to nag."

Renjun turned back and began walking once again. Donghyuck was a nice distraction in the diner but Renjun had a mission and he couldn't allow himself any more distraction. He would find a way to get the people like him without Donghyuck hanging off his neck. And it felt intimate – too intimate to share. A story about a dead boy who could be Renjun in some twisted magical way.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this. Be more open,” Donghyuck said, opening his arms wide. For a moment, he looked like he was about to hug Renjun but he thought better of it. “I’d be a great help.”

“Donghyuck, I swear to God,” Renjun began. He was cut short with Donghyuck stepping closer and slipping a hand on his cheek, holding him there. The words died in his mouth and he was painfully aware of how Donghyuck knew his effect on people. He leaned closer, his brown eyes searching Renjun’s – and for a moment, Renjun was sure he would kiss him. But instead, Donghyuck pinched his cheek painfully hard.

He let go off Renjun before he could bite him, already walking away.

“Okay, I recognize when I’m unwanted. Have fun being alone with yourself,” he called back. He waved, back already turned. “But don’t come back crying.”

***

Renjun walked into the woods. The soft layer of pine-needles was swallowing up every one of his steps. It was silent. Only his heavy breathing sounded back to him, too loud and starking in the calmness of the forest. The trees made him feel small and insignificant, they embraced him in a way that he could only gaze upwards at the sky, otherwise all he saw was muted green and brown hues. It was still in the morning, dew was lingering on the trees but the dense leafage let little to no sunshine in. He fell into a timeless trap here, distance and time bleeding into each other.

He nervously tapped away on his wristwatch, a reminder of the outer world. The ticking noise his fingernails made on the glass surface was keeping him sober, accompanying him through his journey.

He didn't know why the forest pulled him in so easily. Why he decided to drop everything and come here, to let himself be taken by nature. But it was an easy decision, being a good distance away from the town, from the forever blabbering Donghyuck; that odd girl, Hyunjin and the creepy cashier boy. Maybe he needed this, a momentary break from the town. A breather before he dived back again.

It was a mixed feeling. Wandering here felt like he was in a dream, lulling him to believe he was safe from everything, that he had nothing to be afraid of – because mother nature would save him when the time came, wouldn’t she? And still, there was something in the air that bothered him but he couldn't put a finger on what exactly. He felt tenseness surging through his body, pulling at his muscles to be ready.

He followed a trodden path, but he had no idea if he was going in the right direction. He didn't know where the boy was found – only that it was close to the town limits. But the town was engulfed in the ever caring hands of the forest, hence he had no idea where he was. The path led him and he thoughtlessly followed.

"Where are you?" Renjun whispered. He tried to put himself into the role of the boy. He tried to imagine himself fifteen and lost in the woods. Someone must've been in his heels, someone must've followed him there. A boy lost on the last day of the summer, sweaty from the surprisingly hot day, hands clammy as he fisted them to fight his pursuer. Maybe it wasn't like that. Maybe the boy trusted his killer – maybe it was someone close to him, a boy so young could be so trustful and gullible, it could've been easy to get close to him. To learn about him and to end him. Someone who was loved and adored by the boy, and they betrayed him just like that.

_This is a fucking nightmare,_ Renjun thought as the forest grew denser. He caught himself looking around, searching for his imaginary pursuer, waiting for him to leap out from their 35 years long sleep.

However he tried to imagine it, he saw himself – he saw himself, in the ripe age of 15, a victim of cold-blooded murder. Breath hitched in his throat and he had to hold onto a branch and stop for a moment. Nausea filled him, his stomach growing upset despite the lack of food he consumed this day.

The images of him lying dead penetrated his mind and he tried to will them away, to think of something, anything that would make them disappear – it didn't work. These pictures persistently stuck behind his eyelids and he was growing more and more disgusted by the illusion of himself, bleed out and future taken away. Renjun bit his lips to stop himself from vomiting and straightened his back.

He decided to come here. No one tried to push him into this. He got to make this work. If anything, he was stubborn.

It was a mistake, he decided. It was too soon to come here. Without a clear idea, without a clear motive to see what happened. He was just scaring himself with his stupidity. He let himself be carried away by mere images of his betraying mind. He let out a shuddering sigh.

"You're such an idiot,” he told himself. Speaking aloud gave him false comfort, hearing his own voice coming back to him in the deafening silence.

He might have overestimated his own bravery – being alone in the woods was making his shiver. He always knew he was a coward under his tough act, which his roommate, Jaemin, liked to tease him about, but this was a new peak even for him.

He turned back. Maybe he needed to come back after a longer stay, to get answers to just why the forest was so silent, like nature itself was adamant to leave this place; to get answers to the _whats_ and _whys_ of the murder. Renjun continued tapping away on his wristwatch, humming a song under his breath. He recognized the tune as the one Donghyuck and he was singing to during the car ride. The echoes came back to him, comforting.

It was getting dark. Renjun peeked up at the sky with confusion, as it should be still daytime, before noon.

_Great_ , he thought. Storm clouds were gathering on the sky, grey and angry, ready to take revenge any time soon. Renjun gripped the strap of his bag and began speed walking.

The problem with the forest was that everything looked alike. And while Renjun was a hundred percent sure he was going on the same path as before, it seemed to him that he was going in circles. He wasn't sure that it was a trick of his mind again – of him seeing the same trees or rocks over and over again when he was pretty sure he was walking straight. Fear was gnawing in his stomach, ready to spill over but he held onto it, he held onto his senses as he walked, then bolted into a run.

Rain began pitter-pattering on his shoulder, quickly drenching his meek cardigan and chilling him to the bone. He wanted to call help. He fished out his mobile phone, ready to call anyone who could help – but Donghyuck was right. There was no signal in this town.

He heard a rustle behind him and he quickly turned around. With mixed emotions of gladness for any outside noise and fear of the unknown source, he gawked around. Not far away, stood in the shadows, the cashier boy, his face stoic as he stared at Renjun. It was hard to see him, as the rain began to fall heavier, blurring everything into one watercolour painting but he was there, bone and flesh real.

“Jisung, oh my god, I'm so glad to see you,” the words tumbled out of Renjun's mouth as he began walking toward him. “I think I'm lost but I swear I was following the path—”

“You came back,” Jisung said. Emptiness rang in his voice, devoid of anything that made someone human.

“What?” Renjun faltered.

“You came back,” someone else whispered behind Renjun. He snapped his head back with a force, it blurred his vision for a moment. Another townsfolk was standing there, someone he distantly recalled seeing in the diner – a plump woman with striking blue eyes that stared back at him lifelessly like fish.

“You came back,” another voice came, then another. Until the gentle rustling of the branches were overwhelmed by hushed whispers of the same sentence, until the whispers bled into a chant of god knows how many people. Renjun stood in the middle, looking around to see faces emerge from the shadows of the trees, faces he saw around the town, faces that had stared at him — and yet, they were strange and unknown, something entirely non-human.

Renjun tried to keep up with the people. He tried to count them, to tie them to his memories and find a reason why they were here. He tried to close his eyes, to wish, to imagine all of this madness away because why would a chanting crowd find him in the middle of the woods? This must be merely a figment of his imagination, fueled by too little sleep and caffeine-induced anxiety.

But whenever he opened his eyes, they were there, tightening around him like a rope, multiplying and chanting until the words stuck together into a menacing crescendo. Renjun noticed the way they crept closer, their voices and faces still washed away by the rain but they were gaining on him, closing in on him.

He wanted to scream, he wanted to yell at them but when he opened his mouth, nothing came out. The cold rain seeped down to his bones, the thin material of the clothes stuck to him like a second skin. He blinked away the droplets, trying to find a way out of there. His knees trembled and began to give out under him as he took a tentative step toward a small space where he saw an opening for escape. He didn’t have time to overthink his great escape plan because the small space thinned as they neared him, outstretched hands grabbing for him.

Mustering up all his courage and strength, he broke into a run, his smaller built body tearing through the wall of strangers like a blade. He didn’t care if he was running into the deeper parts of the woods or out of it — he just wanted to be far from the crowd, and wanted to disappear from this odd town with its vicious people.

_You came back._

The words echoed in his head, haunting as he blindly tore through the forest. He didn’t care of the branches tearing on his clothes, nor as the mud painted his shoes and trousers. His mind was a jumbled mess of _whys_ and _hows_ but on the topmost importance sat the urge to make out of the woods. He felt in danger, all those townsfolk closing in on him, void of any emotion — was that a sick joke? Were they trying to scare him a little?

Air was burning his lungs and his legs got tired from the running — he wasn’t an athletic type anyway. But a sliver of hope appeared in his heart as he saw light trickle through the almost solid wall of trees. He quickened his steps because he never knew if he was followed — he listened but the pounding of rain washed away every noise except his own ragged breathing and the malicious words stuck in his head.

The light suddenly blinded him, his legs carrying him onward without stopping. Not until he slammed into someone, a spot of warmth for his own stranded body. He grasped for it, burying his face in the stranger’s neck, not seeing nor hearing anything as relief washed over him. His common sense crept upon him and he would’ve jerked back if it wasn’t for the strong grip on his shoulder to stop him.

He was stupid. What if he ran into the arms of one of those he was trying to escape from? He didn’t dare to look up, rather he kept on trying to get out of the grip.

“Renjun?”

It was a surprise even for Renjun to find this much solace in Donghyuck’s voice. Still trembling from both the weird encounter and his soaked wet clothes, he dived back into Donghyuck’s body, seeking for any small remnants of warmth and dryness. Donghyuck yelped as Renjun stuck his cold, wet cheek to his neck and softly pushed him away.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Donghyuck’s hands were warm as he cupped Renjun’s face. He had a furrow between his brows as he examined a cut on Renjun’s cheek, running his thumb over the bleeding scrape but it was clear that he was trying to stay calm for the other’s sake. “What happened?”

Renjun opened his mouth to answer, to tell him about the townsfolk who tried to scare the living shit out of him, to tell him how they crowded around him and began chanting, how menacing those words sounded despite having nothing to do with him — until something moved in his periphery. When he glanced that way, he met with the striking blue eyes of the plump lady, coming out of the groceries’ with a few plastic bags dangling from her hands. Turning a bit more, Jisung, the cashier boy was also in his place, a ridiculous yellow hat perched on his curly hair. The more he looked, the more people he recognized from the woods, doing their everyday tasks without a hitch.

Renjun looked for signs of them wandering around the forest, to find if this was all an act. But no, there was not a hair out of place; no mud on their shoes, no coloured cheeks from the rush.

“Renjun!” Donghyuck called him, growing alarmed. He shook him a bit, the umbrella held between his shoulder and ear, his hands searching for any outer injuries on Renjun. “Renjun! Are you alright?”

This was stupid. They couldn’t have gotten back so quick. Renjun, even though not very great with directions, could swear he was running straight ahead and he had an advance on them. They couldn’t have rushed back and cleaned themselves off to play whatever small-town life they lived just so they could fool Renjun into a sick mind game.

“Renjun, you’re scaring me.”

He turned back to Donghyuck, whose constant carelessness melted away and was replaced by palpable worry. Renjun forced a smile on his lips, which felt shaky and not convincing at all judging from the zero change in Donghyuck’s expression but it helped him calm down a little.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” he said and pulled away a bit. He craved for more warmth, more reassuring human touch that would ground him in this madness but normal Renjun held everyone an arm's length away. “I just— I just got lost and scared myself in the woods.”

Because that was all, he tried to persuade himself into believing.

Donghyuck looked at him like he hadn’t trusted any of his words but deemed it best if he wasn’t interrogating anymore. Not yet, at least.

“Come, I’ll invite you for hot cocoa. Debby’s is the finest in this town,” Donghyuck took his hand and held the umbrella over his head.

Renjun had half a mind to decline and go back to his room at the motel and sleep it off — but he didn’t feel safe enough alone. Not when his mind coloured out shadows to be people from this town, heard things that were not there. Insomnia was a bitch and he should’ve known better than to wander into the woods with barely any sleep these days.

“But you’re paying,” Renjun answered and let himself be dragged along.

“I’ll pay with my charms, you’ll see.”

Renjun rolled his eyes, good-natured, not feeling in himself to bite back.

The diner was warm as they made their way into, full of the sweet scents of waffles and French toasts and black coffee. It filled Renjun with warmth and nostalgia he didn’t know where it came from. The people sitting there were still only paying attention to Donghyuck and seeing through him but for now, he didn’t mind.

While Donghyuck ordered, and true to his words, charmed the lady at the counter into giving them the mugs of hot cocoa free of charge, Renjun plopped down on the ugly yellow diner sofa and took a menu to hide behind it.

“Why is everything so cheap? I understand that they’re going for this all ‘80s authentic look but have they heard about inflation or the news haven’t got there yet?” Renjun pointed accusingly at the picture of a plate full of heaps of steaming French toasts. “70¢, for Pete’s sake.”

“Oh, snarky. Back to normal, I see.” Donghyuck's toothy smile reflected relief. “But it doesn’t matter because a few pretty words and you eat there for free.”

“That’s not a very good business practice,” Renjun mumbled under his breath, trying not to stick to the fake leather of the sofa with his wet clothes. Seeing his discomfort and shivering, Donghyuck shook off the leather jacket from his shoulders and handed it to Renjun. Begrudgingly, he accepted it.

They sat in silence. Renjun was too preoccupied with his thoughts to say anything and Donghyuck for once respected his desire for silence. His presence was comforting enough, a shield against the stares and an anchor for safe thoughts. Renjun watched as his nimble fingers tried to fold an origami bird out of the napkins but all of them came out crooked and unrecognizable. His own fingers ached for his pen and notebook, to try and scribble down all the details of whatever it was that happened and to try to make sense of it.

But here, surrounded by the very people who brought him into this brim of a spiral to trip over, he wasn’t feeling like writing his thoughts. Especially with Donghyuck’s severe curiosity topping all of that.

A scrawny woman with heavy eye bags and cigarette yellowed fingers placed the mugs on the table, sending an adoring smile toward Donghyuck. Renjun had time to really look at the woman, Debby, as it read on her nametag. Her permed hair was tied in a bun and she wore a frayed pink dress and a white apron that clashed badly with the yellow interior of the diner but it seemed to be the uniform there. As she turned more toward Donghyuck, to exchange some more niceties, Renjun noticed three vertical scars on her nape.

Suddenly she turned around, her kohl-rimmed eyes staring intently at him. Donghyuck was waiting for him as well.

“Sorry. What?” Renjun blinked.

“Debby brought us a free sundae. It’s really nice of her, isn’t it?” Donghyuck pressed the words through his mouth and sent signs to Renjun to also thank her. But what Donghyuck didn’t see was the complete void in her eyes, no adoration shining in them as when she looked at Donghyuck nor any other emotion — it was nothing. It was like she suddenly turned into a wax statue.

“Yes, very nice of her,” Renjun said meekly.

Debby nodded, moved almost automatically and she left.

“I once again have to realize that being nice is not your strong point, is it?” Donghyuck asked, his teasing tone back. Instead of answering, Renjun counterattacked.

“Not really your forte, is it?” Renjun commented, picking up a bird that rather reminded him of a used crumple of a napkin. He threw the bird to Donghyuck, who let it fall on the chequered tiles with a shrug. Renjun stole the cherry from the top of the sundae. “Anyway, this is obviously just for you. There’s only one spoon.”

“I don’t mind—”

“I do. Very much.”

“That sounds like your problem.” Donghyuck took the spoon and dug into the heavy scoop of chocolate with vigour. Renjun watched him, having deja vu from the morning, sitting in the same place with the same person as he was in a loop. It was entertaining — somehow every minuscule movement of Donghyuck was filled with so much life, it was easy to get lost in the feeling.

“You don’t seem worried about having been stuck here for so long,” Renjun stated rather than asked. Donghyuck fitted into the small town seamlessly, despite having been there for no more than a week now.

“It’s a boring little town. What should I be worried about?” Donghyuck raised an eyebrow but Renjun didn’t elaborate on that.

Donghyuck was fine, maybe a bit annoying but fine. Still, any time he could disappear to go back to his life in the city far away and leave Renjun behind with the burden of shared secrets — so he shut his mouth about the oddity of the town and let Donghyuck figure things out on his own. If there were things to figure out and not just Renjun slowly, gradually losing his mind.

He tapped on the table to calm his nerves, in sync with his heartbeat, but when Donghyuck followed the movement with his eyes, he stopped.

“You do that a lot.”

“It helps me calm down.”

Donghyuck just hummed as an answer. He continued meticulously wolfing down the ice cream, glancing around. When the booth next to theirs was freed from a grumpy old man, he leaned close to Renjun, his eyes reflecting urgency.

“But Renjun — what were you doing in the forest?” Donghyuck lowered his voice like he was sharing a secret. “The people here don’t like that.”

Interest sparkled in Renjun as he mimicked the action. He took the warm mug into his hands, letting his frozen fingers melt.

“Why’s that?”

Donghyuck bit his lips, unsure if he was allowed to explain. He once again looked around for curious eyes but having met none, he pressed even closer to Renjun. Their knees knocked together under the table.

“I’m not sure. I wanted to go hiking on my first few days here and the folks were panicking over it,” he described. “They were freaking out. They were jabbering about something that sounded like negligible superstition but — y’know it was just purely odd how alarmed they were about a simple forest.”

Renjun felt relieved. He thought that Donghyuck found this town as charming as the town found him and revealing to him anything that might present the town unfavourably would lead to instant defection from him. But no, it was clear Donghyuck was also afraid — there must be details he carefully avoided, from the look of his expression. This town was taking a toll on both of them.

He took out his notepad, which was neatly tucked into his waistband. It always had – an old habit in case of forgetting. Maybe Donghyuck seeing it wouldn’t be such a huge problem. The revelation held more than he must’ve counted with — Renjun felt a sudden camaraderie between them, a shared experience of being exiled here, just the two of them foreign to the people.

“Is it really the proper time to work on your poetry collection?” Donghyuck scoffed, laying his chin on his hand.

Renjun scribbled, **_something is hidden in the forest_**.

That was a clue, right there.

“Do you maybe know why they reacted like that?” Renjun asked. As he waited for the answer, he took off his glasses and began cleaning it.

Donghyuck scrunched his nose. “What’s this, an interrogation?”

“Right now it’s just friendly chatting.” He perched his glasses on his nose, and opened his arms, inviting. “It’s on you if it’ll stay like that.”

Donghyuck watched him, the intelligent glint in his eyes promising nothing good for Renjun. He leaned back on the sofa, his vintage shirt matching with the colours of the diner well, and crossed his arms. Renjun wished for nothing more than a quick way to make the smug smile that spread on the bastard’s lips disappear.

“You see, you’re very wrong to think I’ll give you information for free.” Amusement laced his tone as he spoke. “Especially, when you’re also denying information from me.”

Renjun shook his head. “You’re insufferable.”

“Don’t fret, you’re too. Now spill — why are you here?”

Renjun could’ve lied. He could’ve just bullshitted his way through Donghyuck’s ridiculous exchange of information parade like he did when people asked about his past. But Renjun was there, still shaken from the earlier and Donghyuck seemed to be the only buffer zone between him and a townful of people.

Renjun shot up from his seat, making Donghyuck scramble back in surprise.

“It’s easier to show. Come with me.”

***

“So what you’re saying — there was a boy who looked just like you in this town and he was mysteriously murdered _and_ no one paid it any attention?” Donghyuck asked as he sat on the bed, cross-legged, reading through Renjun’s notes. “That’s a lot, man. I thought you’re here because the city was killing your vibes.”

Renjun massaged the bridge of his nose. “Whatever that means.”

He didn’t mean to share all of it. But Donghyuck had no sense for intimacy and grabbed the notebook out of Renjun’s hands, reading the words with a hunger in his eyes. He could see Donghyuck was famished for any information crumb; his face betrayed his relief.

“So you too think there’s something fishy with this town, right?” Donghyuck traded carefully. Renjun didn’t remember the lengths he went to describe the suffocating feeling the town gave him. The only thing he hadn’t shared with him was the encounter in the woods. He was still not sure what happened and he didn’t want to cause panic. “I didn’t want to tell you anything because you might like it here. You look like someone who’d love to live in a place like this.”

“Are you, _once again_ , making jabs at my style? I like your shadiness, really refreshing.”

“It’s just— It’s one thing that my eyes see it but my mind cannot wrap itself around the fact that you non-sarcastically wear oxford shoes and chinos on your own.” Donghyuck shook his head. “Now, that’s a matter for another discussion. So, what are you planning to do?”

Renjun was pacing up and down in the room, the carpeted floor swallowing his steps. But at the question, he flopped down in the chair.

“Upon arriving I planned to interview those who lived here when the accident happened. But I’m not sure anymore,” Renjun admitted. He tiredly ran his fingers through his hair, combing out the tangles. His hair was almost dry, curling in ways that made him feel like a madman on the run, with small sticks and leaves still residing on his scalp.

“Do you think the whole town is in it? To hide something?” Donghyuck carefully asked like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

A clap of thunder rolled outside, soon accompanied by lightning. Donghyuck flinched at the sound but held on — Renjun had half a mind just to taunt him, to make fun of him like Donghyuck would if their places were exchanged; but today was already a living nightmare and maybe he’d be a little kinder.

“Yes. I don’t know. Maybe?” A sudden wave of tiredness washed through him. “I don’t know yet.”

Renjun sat down next to him, the soft mattress dipping under their added weight. He leant a bit back until their backs touched and he felt the warmth seeping through him. He closed his eyes for a moment, to just let himself relax in this place with the only person in this town who had nothing against him, in the only place where no one was staring at him. He let himself feel warm and safe for a moment, listening to Donghyuck’s even breathing and the sound of the storm outside; letting himself be lulled by the neutral scent of freshly washed linen and Donghyuck’s cologne.

Renjun opened his eyes and shot up. Donghyuck caught himself before he fell back on the bed because of his sudden disappearance.

“What happened?” Donghyuck asked, blinking blearily, clearly having dozed off in the last minutes.

Renjun didn’t answer for a minute, too focused on the task on hand. He began going through the drawers, pulling them out to check on his stuff. His clothes laid there, seemingly untouched but he knew better.

“Is there room cleaning service in the motel or something?” he asked.

“I wouldn’t call it that. But Hyunjin does come to clean up and change the sheets almost daily if she has time, which is very neat for a dingy place like this. Why?”

Renjun sighed and whipped around.

“I think she or someone else went through my stuff.”

A worried expression took over Donghyuck’s face as he stood up and walked to where Renjun was standing. When he peeked into the drawers, his concern disappeared — and Renjun hated the face he made.

“Aren’t you just paranoid?” Donghyuck’s voice lilted at the end, teasing him. He reached into the drawer and pulled out a neatly folded boxer with a low whistle. “These seem spotless to me.”

Renjun regretted deciding on being kind and not being an asshole earlier because Donghyuck deserved nothing good in life. He jerked the underwear out of his hands and threw it back on the pile. When Renjun turned back to glare daggers at him, Donghyuck just held up his hands in surrender.

“I have a method to fold my clothes and this — this isn’t that,” he explained, and pulled a turtleneck out of the pile and slowly, like a surgeon he unfolded it, pointing at the sleeves.

“What’s your method?” Donghyuck eyed the piece of clothing, then Renjun. “Being a neat-freak?”

“My method is that _I don’t care_. Never in my life have I folded anything this precisely,” he demonstrated by folding the turtleneck in his way, making a misshapen lump out of the precise fold. “See?”

Donghyuck scrunched his nose, disbelief still dripping off of him.

“I don’t know,” he began, clearly not wanting to hurt Renjun’s feelings by telling him he was crazy. “Maybe you had it lucky. You can’t just decide someone went through your stuff just because a turtleneck is not lumpy. It just doesn’t stand on its own as proof.”

“You’re right. But also,” he added, pulling out a stack of paper from another drawer. “I miss the folder in which I was keeping the information about the town. I mean, there’s one identical here but there’s nothing inside and mine is dog-eared. I’d say, it's clear evidence.”

Donghyuck’s eyes widened and he took the blue folder — and true enough, there was nothing in there. With a struck expression, he looked up at Renjun.

“Then why did you start with this whole folding thing?” he asked, voice crawling higher by each word. “Are you sure you haven’t misplaced it?”

Renjun saw in him the last remnants of a belief that not all of this town’s residents were completely bad. If he hadn’t experienced it first hand, he’d have a hard time believing as well. It was just almost unbelievable for someone who was welcomed so easily into this close-knitted community to think the whole town was in this. Renjun didn’t want to blame Donghyuck for trusting.

“No, I had them printed here.” He tapped the hard plastic cover in Donghyuck’s hands. He gave the other a challenging smile. “And I wanted to see if you trusted me and you failed peculiarly.”

He received an elaborate eye roll for that and he snickered, despite being freaked out.

“You took it better than I’d imagined,” Donghyuck said, amusement lacing his tone. He furrowed his eyebrows at what he said and added, “Not that I’d have imagined someone to go through your stuff.”

Renjun walked over to the midnight blue plush armchair and plopped down with a sigh. He took his glasses off and put them on the table. When he looked up again, Donghyuck was observing at him with barely hidden sympathy in his eyes.

“I’m too tired to care. Let me reschedule that freakout to tomorrow morning.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“Sadly,” Renjun agreed. He buried his head into his hands and spoke through them. “Anyway, whatever reason did the mysterious burglar take the prints for, I don’t care. I have my notes in the notebook and honestly, it’s barely anything useful. It’s like three different articles of the murdered boy and a few about the trail for the murderer growing cold as there was not a piece of single evidence. Oh, and a few about alien abductions around there just for fun.”

All the while Renjun talked, Donghyuck walked back to the bed and began reading through the notes once again. Renjun watched him, his mouth thinning into a line, his eyes growing colder. When he turned pages after pages until he found himself in front of the badly printed picture of the boy, he let out a small gasp.

“I know,” Donghyuck began and he sat down on the bed. “I _know_ that you wrote that the boy looked like you but — but honestly, I thought he was just similar. Not _you_.”

“Yes, that’s the freaky part. I — I know it’s stupid but I feel like there’s more of a connection between us than just looking alike. I want to find out what happened and bring him justice.”

Donghyuck’s eyes softened as Renjun spoke. The silence grew between them after, and Renjun blamed himself for oversharing, he blamed his exhaustion for making him feel safe when Donghyuck was around just because the people here stopped looking at him once he turned up — a simple Pavlovian effect, and he felt secure enough to open up.

A movement caught Renjun’s eyes — Donghyuck stood up, his eyes still transfixed on the page. He ran his finger on the paper, like to commit the picture to his mind, to see if it was truly real. Then he suddenly looked up, locking eyes with Renjun and an odd determination reflected in his eyes.

“Okay,” he said.

“Okay, what?”

“Okay, I’ve decided. I’ll help you. No need to ask,” Donghyuck declared, marching up to Renjun and held out his pinky finger. For a moment, Renjun just stared at it, unable to form coherent thoughts, he just numbly held his own out and interlocked them. A promise of camaraderie shared in the grimy motel room.

“I wasn’t going to, though,” he said mildly. “Ask, I mean.”

“I know, that's why I took matters into my hands.” Donghyuck laughed. “I cannot let you wander around alone and leave me out of the fun. Believe me, this is gonna be fun.”

Not for a moment did Renjun believe this was going to be fun. Solving a murder mystery in a town that wanted you to disappear — it was certainly not how Renjun would define fun. But looking at the warm brightness of Donghyuck's eyes, he might want to delude himself and believe him. Just for now. Just for this once.

"We'll see."


	2. today

“I just find it weird no one stopped you from wandering into the forest,” Donghyuck said at breakfast, wolfing down another plate of free food. Today’s menu was sunny-side-up for the sunshine boy. It became a habit, to come here and spend the morning going over and over the details in their booth, far away from the watchful eyes of the townspeople.

“Maybe they want me in there.” Renjun shrugged. He still hadn’t told the full story, unable to articulate his thoughts, unable to separate his imagination from reality.

Donghyuck hummed. “That’s another matter. Why does everyone seem to have a vendetta against you?”

“You’ve noticed?”

“C’mon Renjun, I’m not that oblivious,” Donghyuck clicked his tongue in distaste. “Maybe they want you to the forest so whatever rests there can eat you.”

Renjun pushed his glasses up on his nose and leaned closer to Donghyuck, already way too entertained.

“Oh please tell, what resides in the forest in your opinion?” Renjun asked, taking the bait. It felt nice not to be constantly agonizing over small details because Donghyuck had the power to divert his attention with stupid matters.

Donghyuck stuffed the rest of his bun into his mouth and without caring, he began talking with his mouth full.

“I have many theories,” he started, conspiratory. “But the most prominent one is that there is a human-eating monster in the forest. Y’know, like some kind of Lovecraftian monster, waiting for a clueless prey to walk into its territory.”

Renjun waited for a moment for him to laugh it off, to tell it was just a stupid joke — but the excited glint in his eyes was telling enough that he was one hundred percent sure about this theory. Renjun let out a sigh. He got excited about nothing.

“Donghyuck, you’re so fucking stupid.”

“Why are you saying that? I’m a genius.” Donghyuck pulled back with a frown settling on his face. “Just think about it — why would they want to save me from stepping into the woods while they let you in as you please?”

Renjun took a packet of sugar from the middle holder and dumped it into his coffee. He took a sip – it was not getting any better. He sent Donghyuck a pointed look. “You know that this is still an existing question and your hypothesis of flesh-eating monsters does not explain it.”

“Oh, I guess it’s because you’re so rude. You see, they all find me very lovely.”

Renjun stayed quiet because it was easier to let Donghyuck delude himself into believing this than convince him otherwise. Renjun, personally, wasn’t very big on the paranormal. It wasn’t that he was a non-believer but nothing gave him a reason yet to believe. He was only one experience away to believe, though— so right now, a monster hiding in the forest wasn’t one of his concerns. Maybe if it were, let’s suppose, a townwide sect under the seemingly mundane town.

“What if it’s a sect?” Renjun voiced his concern.

“A sect for what? A demon?”

“That’d explain why they like you.” Renjun let himself smile smugly when Donghyuck stuck his tongue out. Such a mature young man. “But seriously, it feels like the whole town is in it together. I can’t pinpoint one person who hasn’t been weird with me since I arrived.”

“Are you sure you have never been here before?” Donghyuck asked suddenly, which surprised Renjun.

He shook his head.

But how could he be sure about that, when memories were a blur in his mind when nothing made sense in his life? His hand unconsciously reached to the notebook tucked in the inside pocket of his coat, the only line of memories he had for so long. It was too much to share with someone he knew for a few days — a lifelong of mystery wouldn’t help their case.

“Odd,” Donghyuck concluded.

“Why?”

“You move around so easily. I’ve been watching you — you knew where the diner and the store was, you didn’t need to ask for directions. Also, didn’t Hyunjin mention that you, I quote, unquote, _came back_?”

Renjun took a sip from his coffee, stalling. He made sense. Renjun naturally found his way around the town but it explained nothing. It was a small town, so heading to the right direction wasn’t a feat in itself. And yet, everyone in town seemed to believe he came back.

And who to blame, when the dead boy was his spitting image?

But the younger people — they, too, thought he had once been here before.

This was more of a confusing mess than he first thought.

“Just how much of your time do you spend on thinking up conspiracy theories?” Renjun taunted him, sarcasm lacing his voice to make up for his unsureness. “Also, here I am misjudging you as someone who doesn’t care about anyone but himself. You pay a lot of attention.”

“I'll take it as a compliment. Thank you."

"You really shouldn't."

Donghyuck drank the remainder of the freakishly sweet concoction he called coffee and stood. Foam still glistened on his lips and Renjun was way too pleased seeing him parade around with that. Donghyuck brought the worst out of him.

“Anyway, I was thinking—”

“God save us,” Renjun commented.

“If you are going to be a little bitch to me the whole day, I’ll let you know that I find it very sexy.” Donghyuck gave him an exaggerated wink and as an exchange, Renjun fake gagged. “So. I was thinking and I believe the best way to start here is to just read — and I asked around. The town’s hall is where they keep all the documents about the town. Something is supposed to turn up there.”

“That’s—” Renjun thought the process through. “That’s not a bad idea, after all.”

Donghyuck preened under the half-compliment, mouth pulling into a toothy grin that would’ve shamed the sun into hiding.

“Don’t act so surprised. It hurts my pride,” he said, still smiling.

Renjun shook his head. He climbed out of their booth too, patted Donghyuck’s shoulder and looked into his eyes.

“I don’t think I have the power to shatter neither your pride nor your self-esteem.”

Donghyuck clicked his tongue.

“Damn right. So don’t try,” he warned mildly. As Renjun began walking out of the diner, pointedly slamming the exact price of his breakfast on the counter on his way out, Donghyuck jogged after him and bumped their shoulders together. “Are we like Shane and Ryan from _Buzzfeed Unsolved_? Or Scooby and Shaggy? Or any other iconic mystery solvers I suddenly can’t remember?”

“For anything, I think we are Shrek and Donkey. You, of course, are the annoying sidekick.”

“Yes, and you are the grumpy ogre. Okay, I admit it. You make sense.”

“Donghyuck, I swear to God—”

“In the town’s hall, I think the best would be not to mention the boy,” Donghyuck said suddenly. He nervously glanced at Renjun, to wait for his reaction. “And maybe the best would be that you leave the talking to me. Just so y’know, they wouldn't freak out or something."

That once again made sense. If Renjun were to talk with any townsfolk, they'd just stare down on him with hollow eyes. Also, he had a hunch that, with a similar vein as the disappearance of his prints, they might not like him snooping around their territory.

“Are you planning to kick me out of my own research?” Renjun asked, just to be difficult.

“Oh man, do you have to see through me so easily?” Donghyuck whined. The bell jingled as they stepped out, the chilly wind catching on the hem of their clothes. “Sadly, however exciting this would be, I don’t think anyone would find it as astonishing as if you released it. After all, I don’t look like the dead boy.”

“Quite unfair,” Renjun agreed.

The wind blew even harder, a new storm brewing. When he looked at the side, Donghyuck pulled his leather jacket tighter around his frame, his jacket and graphic tee weren't giving him nearly enough warmth. His silver curls got all messed up and goosebumps formed on his skin.

“I can lend you a warmer jacket if you want,” Renjun offered. He packed more clothes than he possibly needed, fueled by Jaemin constantly nagging him about catching a cold.

Donghyuck wrinkled his nose and gave him a once-over. Renjun was unimpressed.

“I take it back. I hope you freeze to death.”

“That’s the spirit,” Donghyuck fake cheered, his teeth knocking together. “Alas, I wouldn’t say no for a hug.”

“I’m still not entirely sure you’re not just a demon waiting to take over my body so please keep that five feet distance until I figure this out.” Renjun nudged him with his elbow until he deemed the distance between them acceptable. But Donghyuck had none of it. He wrapped a hand around Renjun’s elbow and pulled him close until his chest hit Renjun’s back and he wrapped his arms around him.

“Now, this is so much better,” Donghyuck sighed, satisfied, and nuzzled his cheeks into the crook of Renjun’s neck. “You are really warm, Renjun.”

Yes, he knew he was. His cheeks were burning as he felt Donghyuck’s nose arch up on the length of his neck slowly, his hot breath fanning over his skin, creating goosebumps in its wake, the little hairs on his nape standing. Probably encouraged by the lack of reaction, Donghyuck pressed a small kiss under Renjun’s ear. For a moment, he froze — Donghyuck was just too shameless and direct, and he wanted to say it had nothing on him but that was not the truth.

He stirred from his stupor when another — noticeably wetter — kiss landed on the sensitive skin of his neck.

“Get off, you little—”

“ _Donghyuck_!” someone called from the other side of the street. Having no ability to feel embarrassment, Donghyuck turned in the general direction of the source of the voice, dragging Renjun along like a ragdoll. He used this moment of a gap in Donghyuck’s attention to elbow him in the stomach and immediately, it worked like a wonder. His hands disappeared from Renjun’s shoulders to wrap around his abdomen, his face scrunched up painfully.

“You saw this coming.”

“Believe me, I did not,” he grunted.

A tall figure jogged across the road to them. Renjun had to look up at him to see his face. His eyes were dark and his hair was left longer at the front, combed back to reveal strong eyebrows. Oh, so this town had its own James Dean. Good to know.

“Donghyuck,” he said again in a low, rumbling voice. “I was searching for you.”

“I’m here. Barely alive but here,” Donghyuck dramatized, straightening his back from his scrunched up position. “What can I help you, Johnny?”

Ah, so Johnny — Donghyuck had mentioned him before, he was sure but he didn’t know in what context. Looking at him, at the blue overall he wore over a simple grey tee; the grease and oil stains on his clothes and smudges on his cheeks; he guessed he was the car mechanic.

“I wanted to talk to you about your car. We've got more problems with it than we first thought, ” Johnny said. His eyes slid to Renjun — and Renjun cringed inwardly. But instead of the usual hostile stares, Johnny’s eyes were warm and inviting on Renjun. “Who’s your friend?”

Donghyuck broke out of his injured act, interest picking up at the mention of Renjun. He turned to look back at him, acting like he was to see him for the first time.

“I’m not sure. He’s just following me around. I think he’s obsessed with me,” he stage-whispered. Renjun sent him a glare but he was aware Donghyuck was immune to this.

Johnny just good-naturedly rolled his eyes like he found his dynamic bothersome but still loveable. He reached his hand out and flashed a smile at Renjun when he accepted his hand. His big hand engulfed Renjun’s into a strong grip. “Hey, I’m Johnny.”

“Renjun.”

Maybe Donghyuck was right and he was paranoid — but while it was almost like a cure for this town-induced anxiety, Renjun wasn’t sure why Johnny acted _normal_. He already walked into a trap once, he didn’t want to repeat that.

“As you can see, he has a way with words. Very charming,” Donghyuck jabbed at him. Renjun delightfully noticed that he was still shivering whenever a harder gush of wind blew by.

“I heard from the others that someone new came to town. It’s good to finally meet you,” Johnny said pleasantly like he hadn’t noticed Renjun’s unwillingness to communicate. He patted their joined hands with his other hand and let go. He looked between Donghyuck and Renjun, one corner of his lips turning up. “Have you two known each other prior?”

Donghyuck said _‘no’_ the same time Renjun said _‘yes’_. Johnny’s smile withered from his lips.

At Donghyuck's confused expression, Renjun sent him a look that said, ‘ _Go along. Trust me_ ’.

“I mean, I _wish_ I hadn't known him. But sadly, this is what life thought I deserve.” He sighed. “So what about my car?”

Johnny looked at them with badly concealed suspicion for a second, then began explaining something to Donghyuck about mechanical parts that were needed for his car but would take at least another week or so to finish.

“I hope it's okay.” Johnny smiled sheepishly, running his fingers through his hair. Renjun watched and stored every minuscule movement, every word to chew on later, in the safety of his motel room. His fingers itched for his pen and notebook.

Renjun suddenly realized how close he was to be alone permanently. Donghyuck, having his car fixed, wasn't going to stay in this dirty little old town for Renjun's sake alone. He was to be off in the second he got his keys and never looked back again. However Donghyuck annoyed him, he felt safe around him.

Donghyuck sent him a look, which reflected the same sentiment.

“It's okay, man,” he patted Johnny's shoulder. Despite talking to the car mechanic only, his eyes slid to Renjun. “Do your best, I'm not going anywhere.”

***

“I can't believe I'm stuck with you for another week.” Donghyuck groaned as they walked side by side to the Town's Hall. Johnny left them with a promise to grab a beer with them and to update Donghyuck on the car.

“The same goes for me,” Renjun snorted. He wasn’t going to admit he was glad Donghyuck was there with him — that would just create more trouble than good. “What happened with your car anyway?”

Donghyuck glanced around. Only a few people were lingering on the streets, all busy with their own lives to pay any attention to them. _At least_ , Renjun thought bitterly, _as long as Donghyuck was there_. He leaned closer to Renjun, his silver locks tickling his cheeks and whispered.

“I stopped here to grab a coffee as I was on the road for almost 10 hours then and when I left the shop I couldn't start the engine,” Donghyuck recalled in hushed whispers. “I'm pretty sure someone meddled with it.”

When Renjun looked at him, his eyes were dark and serious like he was begging for him to believe his story.

“You’re one to call me paranoid,” Renjun said to make a jab at him for the previous conversation. “But yeah, if you say so. Do you have any idea who it could’ve been?”

The corners of Donghyuck’s mouth dragged down, an unhappy expression taking over his face.

“And also someone slashed my tires and yadda, yadda. But — wait. What the hell Renjun? I wanted to play the same trick as you but who would’ve thought you actually trust me?” Donghyuck clasped a hand on his shoulder and dragged him to the entrance of the Hall.

“I agree. I must be sick. Don’t worry, it won’t happen again.”

“I sure hope that's not true. Now, trust me on _this_.” Donghyuck halted before the door and adjusted his hair and jacket, checking his reflection. Somehow looking at him swaggering inside to surprise the poor secretary at the desk didn’t make the impression of handling everything perfectly well — but he might as well let him try.

“Hey, Heejin. What’s poppin’?” he greeted, his tone dropping lower. He leaned his shoulder to the wall, the epitome of a tryhard. He looked good, Renjun had to give him that, as he turned his head just enough to let his chiselled jaw show. Each of his moves was carefully calculated for the maximum effect.

The girl looked up, clearly not amused. She stopped inspecting her shortly trimmed nails and pushed her luminous curls over her shoulders. Her doe eyes held nothing sort of the adoration that usually lingered around him.

“What are you doing here, Donghyuck? I already said I won't go out with you,” Heejin said, immediately turning back to her nails.

Donghyuck's shoulders tensed and Renjun had the decency not to giggle at him. This was going a lot better than he’d ever imagined.

“I’m not here for that, Heejin,” Donghyuck’s tone was dry as he continued, clearly not taking well when anyone dared not to take a liking on him immediately.

He watched the pretty girl in her fuzzy pink sweater give no sign she was listening, other than a small hum. A small smile played on the corner of his lips, enjoying as Donghyuck was growing agitated by her cold shoulder. Donghyuck pushed himself away from the wall and stole closer to the table. He planted his hands on the heavy, oak table and disregarding personal space, he leaned closer to Heejin.

“My good friend, Renjun—” He trusted a thumb toward him. “And I are immensely bored. We were wondering if we could spend the day here, reading about the town.”

Heejin faltered for a moment. She turned from her nails to Renjun, her wide brown eyes immediately hardening, her pretty face morphing into a scowl. “And why would you do that?”

Donghyuck nervously glanced also back at Renjun and moved into Heejin’s line of vision, hiding him. His back was to Renjun but from the drawl of his voice, he knew, he wasn’t going away without putting on a fight — he took out his most charming expression.

“You know, we are just interested in how this town came to life and etcetera. See I’m _very_ interested in history and Renjun just wanted to tag along because he had nothing better to do.” Donghyuck leaned closer, tapping his fingers on the table to get Heejin’s entire attention. “And if you let us in, I’ll say a few good words for you to Hyunjin.”

Heejin’s back straightened as her interest picked up. “I’m listening.”

“You let us in for the whole day, no questions asked and I’ll sing odes of you to Hyunjin of what a good person you are once someone gets past your attitude,” Donghyuck spat the details of the agreement. Renjun noticed how Heejin’s attention had not waned for a second through the explanation, though she did glance at Renjun a few times. She thought for a second before she nodded.

Renjun found it scary that in so little time, Donghyuck seemed to uncover some dirt on the people here just enough to get them to do things for him. He distantly thought back at his secrets filled notebook that rested between Donghyuck’s nimble fingers just a night ago and how close he was to see all the missing pieces from Renjun’s life. He shivered.

“Deal,” she said, pulling a key out of a drawer and handing it to Donghyuck. But before she placed the key on his palm, she grabbed the neckline of his shirt, to punctuate her words. “But the next time I’m speaking with Hyunjin, I better score a date, otherwise...”

She didn’t elaborate what she would do but Donghyuck pursed his lips into a thin line, gulped and nodded. She dropped the key and went back to whatever she was doing before without another world. For a moment, both of them waited for her to say something, a warning or anything but she pretended like they weren’t there. Pointedly, she looked at the clock hanging from the wall.

Donghyuck turned around, a blush high on his cheeks from the less than smooth encounter, and dangled the key with a winning smile. The excitement illuminated his eyes.

“C’mon Renjun, we don’t have all day,” he said, visibly less tense now, that the key sat in his hand cold and heavy. He took Renjun’s hand in his other and pulled him through the corridor. His hand was clammy but warm and he held onto Renjun like a lifeline.

“I hope you know this was the equivalent of fighting off a dragon for a damsel. She scares the shit out of me,” Donghyuck admitted through whispers. He glanced over her shoulders to the secretary, who was typing away on a typewriter. “She looks so sweet then bam, you get _that_.”

“You’re my hero, Donghyuck,” Renjun said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Still, he tightened the grip on his hand. They stopped before a huge double door, with yellow-tinted windows. The small golden placket read _Archives_.

“I better be. Now, I do think I deserve a kiss for that." He puckered his lips but in return, Renjun only flicked his nose.

“You always think you deserve a kiss.”

“Because I always do," he agreed.

The door opened in front of them revealing a dimly lit room packed with metal storage drawers to the brim. When Renjun walked to one and pulled out a drawer randomly, it didn't come to him as a surprise to see them stuffed with files.

“Get to work and I might think about it,” Renjun offered and got a stack out, fingering through the files with a low whistle. “Someone was keeping the archives well.”

“I don't know why you're happy, that only means more work for us. And we have to finish today because I don't think Heejin will let us in once again,” Donghyuck grumbled, taking out another stack. “And don't think I'm going to forget about the kiss.”

Renjun decided to ignore his last remark.

“Don't forget we are searching for 1985,” he reminded him.

“Like I could. I’m still traumatized by that picture of you,” Donghyuck whined. It rubbed Renjun wrong how he associated the boy in the picture with him — if anything, it just gave soil of his already insane ideas. Whenever he closed his eyes, the face on the picture came back to him. A lifeless doll on the ground.

The process was slower than expected as little to no organization was involved. The papers were just filed and thrown into a drawer randomly, dates and purposes mixed up. Donghyuck hummed a song under his breath, clearly bored out of his mind. Once the humming ceased, Renjun glanced at him.

“You are slacking, Donghyuck,” Renjun warned when he saw no movement from the other for the last few minutes. He was expecting to see him dozing off but when he turned to Donghyuck, he was intently reading a piece. His expression was morphing from curiosity to horror. “Donghyuck, I can see from here that is _not_ a piece from 1985.”

Donghyuck waved him off and scattered to flip through other papers from that time.

“There are no death certificates,” he muttered, his jaw slacked as he fingered through the stacks. “They stopped in 1985.”

Renjun frowned. “Okay. And? Maybe they put them into another drawer. Maybe a filing mistake.”

“You don’t understand,” Donghyuck groaned. He took several heavy stacks of papers and dropped them in front of Renjun. He opened one and began explaining, pointing at a ragged, yellowed piece of paper. “These are all the death certificates dated back to the 19th century. They are alright, going by date up to,” he halted his speech to grab the last of the heaps and open it at the last page. “March of 1985. And then, nothing else.”

Renjun looked at the death certificate and then at Donghyuck. Urgency glinted in his dark brown eyes as he surged Renjun to believe him. Renjun sighed — there were so many holes in this story Donghyuck had just presented him, so many possibilities for a mistake to just believe him, screw everything. Although he believed that this town was sketchy, this was leaning to be like a witch hunt. Considering that no person died for more than 35 years was almost insane.

Renjun tapped the files and shook his head. The glint in Donghyuck’s eyes dimmed and Renjun pushed down the need to be scammed into agreeing just because he found the lights in his eyes pretty. He gathered the papers to slip them back into their respective folders.

“As I mentioned, maybe a filing mistake. They can be anywhere in this mess,” Renjun said slowly, eyeing the untouched storage drawers.

A pout formed on Donghyuck’s lips. “I thought you trust me.”

“I also said that it was a mistake and won’t happen again.”

“Okay,” Donghyuck sighed. “I’ll go and search for the rest of the death certificates and when I come back empty-handed, you’ll see.”

“Do that,” Renjun agreed, glad to get out of it so easily.

As Donghyuck stormed off to rummage through the drawers, trying to find or rather, _not find_ anything, Renjun went back skipping through his own mountain of papers. He was getting bored, trying to figure out the types of contracts or lawsuits he was reading when something caught his eye. It was stupid, he knew. No better than Donghyuck’s idea but still, it itched his brain until he called out.

“Hey Donghyuck, what’s Johnny’s full name?”

He peeked his head out from behind a metal drawer. “Johnny Suh. Why?”

Renjun ran his fingertips on the legal contract about starting a car mechanic business dating back to 1980. He read through once again, just to be sure – but the signature was there, crystal clear.

“Huh, this must’ve been his father,” Renjun reasoned. Donghyuck, not receiving an answer, crept up behind him to peek over his shoulder. Renjun looked back as Donghyuck leaned in, squinting to see the small letters. He shook his head, his hair tickling the other’s neck.

“That’s not possible. Johnny told me that he grew up in Chicago but he wanted a quieter life so he moved here. He was very proud of starting his own business from scratch.”

Renjun was about to turn around and give Donghyuck his most unimpressed gaze for trying and creep him out when the other’s finger shot out to point at another file. Renjun followed the movement with his eyes, his gaze falling on the name _Tiffany Hwang_.

“What about her?” he asked.

“That’s Tiffany. Y’know, the owner of the diner,” Donghyuck murmured. His chest was pressing close to Renjun’s back as he leaned to take a closer look. He pointed at another name. “And that’s Hyunjin from the hotel.”

Renjun furrowed his brows, trying to comprehend just what Donghyuck laid over for him.

“That’s not possible. Johnny is like what, 30 years old maximum. And Hyunjin is like 20-something.” He took the papers into his hand for a closer inspection. He shook them out with a grunt. “But these are like all from the ‘80s. There _must_ be some filing mistake.”

Suddenly Donghyuck’s warmth disappeared from behind him. He scattered around to sit in front of Renjun, his fingers laced, taking on his most serious expression he could muster up.

“Do not call me paranoid,” he warned. He lowered his voice into a whisper. “But I think these are not filing mistakes nor bad maintenance or whatever you want to explain these obvious things. These things link together to hide something that might be bigger than we’ve ever dared to expect.”

Renjun shook his head. “What the hell are you on, Lee?”

“Dear _Huang_ , for a journalist-to-be, you’re not very perceiving,” Donghyuck said with no malice in his voice. He laid out the papers they were inspecting on the table like they were cards. “This is the evidence that verifies that there is something _very wrong_ with this town.”

If Renjun let himself be irrational, he could see it — a bunch of townsfolk, trading something important away for everlasting life; or falling into a trap that cost them their forever, stuck in an endless cycle. He could see the supernatural in it that excited him and scared him at the same time; as he could see the total belief of finding something bigger than them blooming on Donghyuck’s face. But he was too afraid to agree, too rational to let himself go like that. He needed hard evidence, an experience that would push him into believing – and a few scraps of paper wouldn’t do it.

“What I think you’re missing is,” Renjun began, collecting the papers and placing them back in the folders. “There are no humans frozen in time, nor have we discovered a fountain of immortality in this town. There’s no way you can justify your argument. I’m not about to risk my credibility in front of my professors just because you think it’s supernatural.”

When Renjun looked at him, Donghyuck’s face was radiating disappointment, his permanent smug smile whithering from his lips. He turned away, trying not to be affected.

“Oh yeah? Then explain to me why does everyone look like they are stuck in the ‘80s?” Donghyuck asked, out of defiance. He crossed his arms before his chest and waited for Renjun to reply that.

The sun was going down. The small window of the filing room let in barely enough sunlight but now the room was filled with orange and red hues, painting Donghyuck's skin golden, giving his silvery hair a warm tone. His act of bravado was melting away under Renjun’s gaze but he tried to hold into it. And Renjun wanted to crumble also, and trust him but it was irrational and frightening and too much for him to even consider.

“You’re one judgy motherfucker, Donghyuck,” Renjun scoffed, hiding behind well-practised antagonism. He couldn’t allow himself to show how he was teetering so close to give in.

This seemed to hurt his pride as he stuck his nose higher.

“Okay. If you think that it’s not _weird_ that everyone looks like they are in the _Heathers_ movie, that’s on you.”

“They might want to keep up the look for marketing aspects,” Renjun mused. He thought of the ancient computer in the motel, the typewriter Heejin was typing away on, the typical ‘80s aesthetic of the diner, the amount of permed hair and shoulder filling he had seen so far. He noticed them, but the oddness of everything else buried these details away.

“Oh and you might want to wonder why no one in this goddamned town ever gets any of the pop culture references — Renjun, they don’t know about neither _Twilight_ nor _Harry Potter_.” Seeing that Renjun was about to retort with some lukewarm response, Donghyuck pressed on. “I know that not everyone has to know about these things but they aren’t that cut off from the rest of the world.”

_Cut off._

That was how Renjun was feeling since he first stepped into this town. He was cut off from the others — no Internet connection, no reception, no one to talk to. It had been only a few days but it felt maddening how he had no connection with the outside world whatsoever. Only the constant annoyance that was Donghyuck led him like an anchor, made him feel included.

Not only he was excluded from the world – the town was as well. The thick was of the forest held them in their own, smaller set of world. One road to let others in, one road to let them out. Both of them unused and bumpy.

“Say that again,” Renjun requested, already going through his bag to fish out his notebook.

“Oh, you want me to roast them more?” Donghyuck eyes glinted with self-satisfaction, his body language immediately softening from the previous strain. “Think of Tiffany, think of her blue eyeshadow and red lipstick. And I can’t believe the amount of hair spray these people seem to consume. Maybe they couldn’t move on from the peak. I mean, _same_. The boy bands then were the shit I tell you. Hey, are you listening?”

Donghyuck rolled his eyes. “Why are you scribbling in your notebook again? Can you stop it? I need attention so I can justify my theory.”

“Just in theory,” Renjun began, tapping away on the table. The noise calmed him, the rhythm of his heartbeat. “Suppose, it’s all true. That they somehow stuck in the ‘80s — how could that happen?”

Donghyuck almost seemed taken aback by the sudden change in Renjun’s attitude toward his insane theory, which was very telling that he was just fucking with Renjun initially. But he quickly overcame his surprise, leaning closer to Renjun over the table, unabashedly reading Renjun’s notes.

“Time loophole,” he said, excitement dripping from his voice. “Maybe this town has gotten into a loophole where the same timeline starts over. Like _The Groundhog Day_ or something. After all, we’ve never checked the newspapers for dates.”

Renjun considered it for a moment, then shook his head.

“Then what about us? Shouldn’t we also get into the loop once we’re here?” He distantly thought of the records he kept in his notebook, keeping track of the days he spent here. Even though each day began the same way, with him and Donghyuck confiding in the diner for a tactical meeting, it never felt like a loop.

“Perhaps banging would solve all the problems as it did in that movie,” Donghyuck added, shamelessly. He reached through the table and ran a fingertip on Renjun’s jaw. Renjun, in return, snapped at his finger like a dog but Donghyuck was too immersed in his play to break out of it. “It’s worth a try, though.”

“Over my dead body.”

Donghyuck nodded. “Fair enough. Another idea?”

“Maybe we should see what the neighbouring towns think of this,” Renjun offered. The room dimmed into darkness, signalling it was their time to leave. Donghyuck began collecting the remainder of files while Renjun quickly scribbled down notes about the papers and contracts they’d found about Johnny Suh, Tifanny Hwang and Hyunjin Kim. Something told Renjun that if they were to dig a little deeper, the other townsfolk would’ve turned up at some point.

Donghyuck’s face lightened up at that. “Ooh, are we going on a road trip?”

Renjun pocketed his notebook and sent him a look. “Are you going to keep annoying me through the ride?”

“Most probably.”

Renjun fought down the urge to roll his eyes.

***

“What the fuck,” Renjun stood before his rental car, on the brink of a mental breakdown. It stood prettily in the parking lot of the motel, a sleek black car that he found a guilty pleasure in driving. Upon closer inspection came the realization that the tires were slashed.

“Now, I’ll pretend that I’m surprised,” Donghyuck said, leaning against the side of the car. In the streetlamp light, he looked as tired as Renjun felt like. The snarkiness in his tone did nothing but anger Renjun more.

“What do you mean?”

Donghyuck clicked his tongue. He pushed himself away from the car to throw his arm around Renjun's shoulders, pulling him close to his chest. He had a nice smell, warm and homey that made Renjun immediately divert his attention from his initial anger to wonder if that was Donghyuck's natural scent. Unwillingly, he leaned into the touch.

“I mean that as everyone seems to have a personal vendetta against you, I'm not entirely surprised to see your tires slashed. Y'know, where's the fun in simply telling you to fuck off?” Donghyuck chuckled bitterly.

“But I can't fuck off without my car,” Renjun mumbled. The whole day felt like a fever dream – hell, his whole stay so far felt like a fever dream. But today, with the possibility of something supernatural was going on in the town, it was starting to make sense that the residents of the town were so adamant of them staying – slashing both Donghyuck’s and his tires, it couldn't be an accident.

They didn’t want them to leave. They wanted them to stay.

“Maybe they don't want you to do that.” He sounded far away. Donghyuck didn't elaborate and Renjun didn't ask him to. He was exhausted by the information bump already, let it be theoretical or eerily real. He didn't want more to feel anxious or scared about yet again something else.

The red neon light that signalled the motel's whereabouts flickered on. They stood there like that, basking in the alternating bloody crimson and soft yellow light. Donghyuck's slow breathing lulled him and turned his thoughts away from the town for a few moments at least – a few minutes of safety in the madness. Donghyuck's fingers drew patterns on his shoulder and Renjun let himself bury his face into his neck. It was intimate, more than Renjun usually was comfortable to do so. But at this moment it felt right.

“I can ask Johnny to lend us a car tomorrow,” Donghyuck said softly, afraid to disturb the delicate peace. Renjun nodded and nuzzled even closer, closing his eyes. He was warm, he was safe – Donghyuck was here and he scared the harm away. His wandering fingers stopped mindlessly drawing on him and almost self-consciously, he began playing with Renjun's hair.

Donghyuck took a deep breath.

“I know that you find me irritating and all but—” he began.

“I don't,” Renjun mumbled, cutting him short. Donghyuck's fingers stalled in his hair. “Okay, sometimes. But you're fun to have around. I’m glad you are here.”

Renjun could practically feel him preening under the semi-compliment.

“Oh. So you might love to hang out with me—”

“Don't be delusional, though.”

“But I just wanted to say I don't plan to leave you here once I get my car back.” Donghyuck jabbered like he was in a rush to get the words off his chest. “I mean if you need me. Until you need me.”

Renjun pulled away, surprised by the weight of Donghyuck’s words. He saw honesty in his glittering eyes and in the sheepish smile blooming on his lips. He saw the bluntness that resided in him and the hidden unsureness of his being in his pink tinted cheeks. He saw the possibilities of an endlessly interesting man — the mischief and intelligence that mixed inside him, the eternal rush for fun and validation that seemed to reflect Renjun's own being. He felt closer to Donghyuck in just that one look than he ever before and it scared him.

Donghyuck was so bright, burning brilliantly as the neon red washed over them. Renjun wasn't sure how to form the words of immense gratitude he felt for Donghyuck's words, he was at loss on how to express what he felt for him. Those half-formed words morphed in his head into incoherent thoughts, falling short of things to say.

Donghyuck's fingers caressed through his hair and slowly slid down on his neck to hold his jaw carefully. He left space for Renjun to escape, to change his mind, to cuss him off for trying. But Renjun did nothing but follow the gravitational pull that was surrounding Donghyuck, he let himself be engulfed by this foreign feeling of want _._ Slowly, Donghyuck leaned in, breathing an unsure kiss on his lips.

With bated breath, he waited for Renjun's reaction. He stayed close, blinking at Renjun with wide, fearful eyes like it was foreign for him too, like he was just testing the waters.

Renjun, famished for the peace that came with Donghyuck’s being, grabbed the hem of his leather jacket and pulled Donghyuck in. Their lips crashed into a bruising kiss — and Renjun’s mind was wiped clean of everything. His thoughts centred around Donghyuck’s scent, his taste, his touch; his perception of the world narrowed into his minuscule movements. The way he licked into his mouth, the way his teeth scraped his lips, the way his blunt nails dug into his scalp as the kiss moved on.

It wasn’t like Renjun to be making out in an almost haunted parking lot in the dark. Still, the idea excited him — of claiming the newcomer sweetheart of the town in front of anyone to see, of finally not being repressed by denying what he wanted and what he needed. It was liberating and intoxicating and Renjun felt dizzy with a new wave of needing to get closer, to mould into Donghyuck.

Donghyuck turned them around and pushed Renjun to the car door. Nothing in Donghyuck’s actions reminded Renjun of his earlier hesitation nor his almost boyish embarrassment. He pressed closer to Renjun and he let him, let Donghyuck take over all of his senses. He slowly moved away from Renjun’s mouth to his jaw, pressing open-mouthed kisses along its curve, etching down to his neck. Renjun couldn’t help the small whimper leaving his lips when Donghyuck bit into the sensitive skin of his neck.

“Eager, aren’t we?” Donghyuck asked with a small puff of laugh, his hot breath fanning over his skin. Renjun let his head roll back against the window of the car, let the cold glass seep away his heat. He opened his eyes to look at him, to stare at his darkened, excited eyes, his ruffled locks, the high rise of pink on his cheeks – he was dishevelled and so bright and beautiful it hurt.

Still, he gulped down this new wave of affection to playfully flick him on the nose.

“Don't you have better things to do?”

“Actually, I do.”

The small curve of Donghyuck's lips was maddening. True to his words, he leaned back to kiss along his neck, he licked and bit until Renjun couldn't help himself from whispering Donghyuck's name over and over again. Their bodies pressed together and Renjun could faintly feel Donghyuck's erection growing against his thigh and it filled him with anticipation and hunger.

Donghyuck’s hand slid down from his scalp to his neck, pulling him closer, morphing themselves together. His fingers brushed against where Renjun’s silvery scar stretched on the back of his neck, so easy to forget, so painful to remember. The small touch sent hot shockwaves through Renjun’s body. His eyes shot open. His scar was burning under Donghyuck’s touch. He had a hunch, a small intuition – and he glanced toward the glass door of the motel to see those feline eyes stared back at him. Hyunjin was watching them from behind the counter, empty eyes following as Donghyuck kissed along Renjun’s throat.

His world was rapidly expanding again. He was starting to become hyper-focused on his surroundings – Donghyuck’s chaste kisses were drowned out by the small noises of the wilderness, the noises Renjun unconsciously coupled with the hidden bodies of dozens of townsfolk, waiting and counting the seconds until Renjun was all alone again.

He began to tremble but Donghyuck hadn't noticed his distraction. He was still drunk on hormones, in the bliss of the unknown. Renjun tried to pull away but he was pressed between Donghyuc’s solid body and the car door.

“Wait, wait, wait,” he gasped. Donghyuck ran his finger on the scar once again and Renjun caught his hand. “Stop.”

Donghyuck immediately pulled away. He blinked at him, his reddened lips forming words of questions but never saying them aloud. Renjun used the momentary confusion to slip out and he began buttoning up, adjusting his rumpled clothes. He felt his scar burning, a sensation that was so familiar and yet so distant, an ice-cold reminder of darker times.

“This was… a mistake,” Renjun said, willing his voice not to quiver but he was failing miserably. His fingertips ached to touch Donghyuck, to run his fingers through his silky, silver hair; to tug at those locks and kiss him senseless. He was aching for the artificial sense of freedom the short-lived fling offered for him.

And he saw Donghyuck slowly reaching up, to touch him again but Renjun pulled away, already teetering so close to give in. A touch and he was a goner. Defeated, he let his arm fall back to his side.

Donghyuck forced a smile on his lips, so fake and fragile, it was painful to watch. He shrugged.

“At least it was fun until it lasted,” he said, nonchalantly. He was avoiding Renjun’s eyes as he yawned and stretched out.

A twig snapped behind them but only Renjun seemed to notice. For the lack of any animals, the forest was very loud tonight.

“Yeah, fun.”

“I'm getting tired,” Donghyuck announced. He didn’t try to make himself look more presentable. He didn’t pat down his dishevelled hair, nor did he tuck his shirt back to his pants. He was unabashed and Renjun wished for his shamelessness.

He no longer cared if Renjun flinched away, he threw an arm around him and pulled him into the motel. He threw a wink at Hyunjin's general direction and it slowly dawned on Renjun that Donghyuck noticed. He noticed Hyunjin as he might've noticed either Renjun's nervous glances at the forest or the noises of it. In front of his door, Donghyuk let go of him, putting his hands behind his back.

Standing in the bare corridors of the motel, he wanted to reach out for Donghyuck. To pull him into his room and continue where they left off. He wanted to kiss away the slight frown of his lips, wanted it gone and replaced with that stupidly smug smile of his. But the mere thought of allowing someone to be more than a fling, to open up to the deep-rooted curiosity of Donghyuck, to let him figure Renjun out – that was too terrifying.

Because he was sure that Donghyuck wouldn’t stay in an arm’s length from him, not when the town pushed them into each other’s arms in search for solace. And he couldn’t let that happen, not before he figured out the missing pieces from his own life. Dragging Donghyuck into this mess was bad, but immediately pushing him into another was worse.

Donghyuck cleared his throat, shifting from one leg to another. His face didn’t reveal much of his feelings but his fire dimmed.

“I'm going to tuck in for tonight. You know where to find me if I'm needed.”

***

Nighttime was always a dreadful time for Renjun.

He was lying on the bumpy motel bed, the scent of strong antiseptic burning his nose. He felt itchy all over his body just imagining the hundreds of people who were sleeping in the very same bed. It was supposed to be dark in the room, but it was only partially — the red of the neon sign outside entered through the light material of curtains, painting everything crimson for seconds on and off.

Renjun watched it happen. Terrifying darkness changing into neon red. It was like blinking — and Renjun was scared that in the blink of light, someone would appear and disappear. He saw faces in the shadows. He saw the striking blue eyes of the plump woman, the brown curls of Jisung, the kohl-rimmed eyes of Debby. He saw every person from the town who he had encountered so far. At the very least, his mind conjured up an image of Donghyuck in the dark, leering at him with a sick sneer like he was one of _them._ Renjun had to screw his eyes closed and count to ten to slow his breathing.

When he opened his eyes once again, only a potted plant stood in the corner.

He scoffed at his cowardice, thinking _this is getting ridiculous._ Angrily, he turned the pillow around and fell on the soft, cold material. He let the sound of the howling wind lull him to sleep.

When he opened his eyes again, it was dark. Permanently dark. No flickering neon lights, no moonlight shimmering on the night sky. It was disorienting — he was desperately trying to find something to ground himself with, to know where he was. First, he thought he was alone, but his searching fingertips brushed against something soft and leathery.

_‘Donghyuck?’_ he asked hopefully, the touch of his ever-present leather jacket still fresh in his mind. _‘Donghyuck, is that you?’_

A warm palm circled his wrist. Renjun let out a burst of shaky laughter, relief flooding him.

_‘Do you know where we are?’_ Renjun asked, reaching out to find something that might give him an idea. He touched tree barks and pine needles pickled his skin. The realization of their location hit him like a ton of brick — the forest. They were in the forest. ‘ _Donghyuck, we are—’_

_‘We are at home.’_ Donghyuck’s tone was flat, void from any emotion. He sounded far away despite standing right beside him. Renjun furrowed his brows, and tapped on his arm, running his palm upon Donghyuck’s back and shoulders.

Suddenly, Donghyuck turned around. His eyes were ablaze with something strange, something alien, lighting up in the darkness like torches. There was a sick smile splitting his face and his grip around Renjun's wrist was bone-crunching. He tried to get out of the grasp, tried to yank his hand out, clawing at Donghyuck’s hand. He didn’t let go. He only leaned closer, his burning eyes blinding Renjun momentarily.

_‘It was time you have finally come home.’_

Renjun sat up, drenched in a cold sweat. His heart was beating so fast he could hear it in his eardrums. His hand shook when he pushed his hair back, bracing himself to look around.

He was back in bed. The bare walls of the motel room were never so comforting before as his eyes got used to the darkness and he saw that there was no one else in the room beside him. It was a nightmare. It was just a nightmare. A big jumble of all the mess that happened so far. It was nothing.

There was a phantom sound, like the click of the lock. It was so small, so insignificant that Renjun wasn't sure he heard it right against his heavy breathing. But there were more — soft footfalls against the carpeted floor, away from Renjun's room, down the hallway.

It might have been Donghyuck. Perhaps he was looking for Renjun but thought better of it after tonight. Perhaps he changed his mind and tried to find solace in Hyunjin's arms for the night. Renjun frowned at the ugly feeling washing over him and turned to his other side. His breathing slowed down, as well as his heartbeat. The nightmare tired him out but not enough for him not to dread closing his eyes once again. As the tock clicked by, his eyelids grew heavy and he let himself succumb to the nagging feeling of exhaustion.

Still, nightmare Donghyuck's words haunted him even in his next dreamless sleep.

_‘You have finally come home.’_

***

Renjun wasn’t looking forward to the morning, fearing to find everything turned sour and awkward between them. But Donghyuck walked into the diner as casual as ever, stealing Renjun's mug of coffee as always and smiling stupidly at him.

"Howdy, cowboy?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

"It's a beret, Donghyuck. Not a cowboy hat,” Renjun commented dryly. “If anything, _bonjour_.”

Sometimes he wondered how brilliant and yet, at the same time, how idiotic Donghyuck was. _A man of many sides_ , Renjun concluded. A bastard of a man.

"Whatever.” He shrugged. As usual, he took a sip from the coffee, pulling his mouth aside. “I’ll never get used to this.”

“Then get your own,” Renjun spit out and snatched back the mug.

It was so easy — the slip-back to this. Like yesterday didn’t happen like it was nothing more than a fever dream. But unconsciously, Renjun ran a finger past a hickey on his neck, under his collar and it was too real once again. He wanted to reach out for Donghyuck and apologize, then grab the collar of his stupid leather jacket to kiss him — but things were, Renjun kept a distance from anything that could turn from fling to anything more.

His fingers moved from the hickey to massage his nape, his fingertips grazing past the scars there. The protruding skin felt hot to the touch and in his mental sight, Renjun could see the three small, silvery vertical lines and the ugly, red horizontal one cutting through them, pulsing like it was alive. He bit the insides of his cheeks, not wanting to spiral right here, right now.

“Anyway,” Donghyuck began, stealing a piece of toast off Renjun’s plate. “I was thinking.”

“Oh, God.”

He didn’t pay him any attention, other than an unimpressed look. Renjun, despite himself, curiously leaned closer over the table. Donghyuck, clearly satisfied with the attention he was receiving, motioned around the diner.

“How we do this every single day. You sit there, drink this death concoction, wait for me to appear. We do some shit together. We go back to the motel.” He took a break for dramatic effect. “Maybe we _are_ in a time loop.”

“That was very underwhelming,” Renjun commented wryly. “ It’s called a daily routine, not a time loop.”

Donghyuck huffed, jutting his bottom lip out.

“Okay, stay a non-believer. But don’t come crying when I’m right.”

***

The gas station looked old and almost haunted. A few cars parked there, owners filling up their old cars with fuel, grumping about the increase in the price of petrol to each other. Renjun wasn’t surprised to see it so deserted — if tire slashing was the norm here, there was no need for a proper gas station. Conversations silenced as they moved through the station and it didn’t matter how much this kept happening, it still irked Renjun the same. Donghyuck was following closely behind him, whistling under his breath to break the maddening quietness.

The back of the station was another story. Johnny’s repair shop resided here, bursting with rock music coming from a portable radio. He crooned the lyrics with his deep voice along with the singer, while he was hidden under a car.

“Hey Johnny,” Donghyuck greeted, yelling over the music.

There were a bang and a prolonged _ouch,_ and Johnny rolled out with a bump on his forehead. His face was scrunched up with pain as he massaged the bump.

“Please, the next time, give a small sign that you're here before you start yelling and scaring the living shit out of me,” he grunted. His gaze flickered from Donghyuck to Renjun and alighted with something that made Renjun uncomfortable. “Ah Renjun, you're here too. What can I do for you?”

“Actually,” Donghyuck began, moving into Johnny's line of vision to block Renjun. He trusted his thumb toward him. “His tires were slashed.”

“It happened again?” Johnny furrowed his brows, looking over Donghyuck at Renjun with concerned eyes. Donghyuck strolled to throw a hand over Johnny’s broad shoulders and gave him a close, conspiratorial look.

“Johnny, my good pal. Is there something you haven't told me before? Are there any gangs we should worry about? Dangerous people imposing threat on my _dearest_ right there?” He pointedly looked at Renjun. At that Johnny pulled an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t want him to be in danger, even if he himself is a threat to humankind.”

Renjun held up his balled fist, a silent promise for a later time. One of these days, he would call Donghyuck out for a fistfight — maybe all the pent up anger and frustration caused by him was the true problem here, on why he was gravitating toward him. Donghyuck just snickered and mouthed ‘ _that’s a promise_ ’.

Johnny peeled Donghyuck’s arm off his shoulders.

“Aside from a few teenagers with questionable humour, no. Nothing’s dangerous here,” he said, contemplating. “But those kids wouldn't hurt a fly, they just want to look cool for their peers. But they’re crossing the line with these tires and all.”

“Do you maybe know who these kids are? I wanna have a nice, long chat with them along with a check for the repairs for their parents.” Donghyuck cocked his head aside with a blinding smile on his lips. It looked feigned and Renjun wondered what his goal was.

“It’s okay, I’ll deal with them,” Johnny said. “They listen better to one of their own.”

“Yeah, _outsiders_.” Renjun finally found his voice and let out a small puff of laugh. He watched Johnny, every tiny movement of his, every change of his expression. “What do they know, right?”

“We’re a close-knitted community.” Johnny shrugged. “We watch each other’s back. We have to. Otherwise, everyone would just leave. And they never come back.”

“Never come back?” Renjun asked back.

Johnny nodded, seemingly deep in thought. There was barely hidden laughter in his eyes like he was enjoying this, like it was funny. Renjun didn’t find it funny.

“At least we thought so,” he said, at last.

“That’s sad,” Donghyuck interjected, dismissively. He broke the tension between Renjun and Johnny, ending their silent staring match. He threw Renjun’s rental car keys to Johnny, who caught it with ease. “We should get going, now. _Although_ , we have another favour to ask.”

“Spill,” Johnny said, pocketing the keys. Renjun watched it, an irrational fear brewing in the pit of his stomach, watching the disappearance of the keys — the car that could take him away from here, the car that he could sit in and drive away in the middle of the night when things turned too serious. The keys were gone and Renjun was afraid, his chances to flee were as well.

Suddenly, Donghyuck’s warm palm rested against his waist.

“Can you lend us a car? We plan to visit a few places, it’s getting boring here.”

Johnny’s eyes hardened.

“I don’t have cars to lend,” he said with a calmness that sent chills through Renjun’s body. “But I can take you wherever you want.”

“We don’t want to burden you,” Renjun tried, but Johnny waved him off.

“That’s the minimum I can do for you.”

***

Renjun tried to shake the feeling of looming doom off himself once they stepped out of the repair shop — Johnny unsettled him with his chumminess and knowing smiles like no one in this town. And that was _something_. With the promise of Johnny taking them to the next town tomorrow, they left.

“There are no kids here,” Donghyuck said once they were far enough from Johnny, mouth pulling into a frown. Renjun shot him a quizzical look. “Haven't you noticed? Jisung, the cashier from the store, is the youngest of them all. He's 17 years old now. Other than him, well, there’s no one else.”

Renjun tried to recount the people he’d seen so far but his unhelpful mind conjured the image of the townsfolk in the forest, surrounding him, chanting. He bit the insides of his cheeks and thought — all of the people he had seen, only a few of them were a similar age to them, otherwise, everyone was older. He didn’t pay any attention until now — he assumed younger people were trying to escape the boredom of this dirty, old town life.

“You’re quite observant,” Renjun said with badly hidden awe. He quickly got out his notebook and wrote down everything — the general impression about Johnny, the key points of their talk, the missing children who supposedly slashed tires.

“Common misconception that I’m not,” Donghyuck boosted his ego. He blinked at the unresponsive Renjun for a moment. “But wait — was that a nice thing you’ve said about me?” he squeaked. “Is there someone else trapped in your little body?”

“You’re barely taller than me, shithead,” Renjun grumbled and nudged him with his elbow. He just realized how Donghyuck’s hand still rested on his waist, keeping him close.

Donghyuck drew himself to his highest, posture straight and chin held high. He was still not much taller than Renjun.

“Believe in whatever you want,” he said. He looked at Renjun and his initial good mood withered. “What are you thinking?”

The word _‘nothing’_ was on the tip of his tongue. He wanted to brush it off because saying out loud made everything real. But Donghyuck was honest with him so far, even if Renjun felt like he was dragging him into trouble. Misunderstanding his silence, Donghyuck let go of him to create a small distance between them — but Renjun grabbed to hold his hand, keeping him close.

“I feel like we’re trapped here,” Renjun said, finally. “Like we’re only allowed to leave when they let us, on their own terms.”

Donghyuck nodded and held onto Renjun’s hand tighter. Renjun closed his eyes for a moment, to lose himself in the warmth of the touch and the distinct aroma of the pines. He cracked his eyes open, only to find Donghyuck looking at him.

“Donghyuck,” Renjun began. He thought of his nightmare last night, thought about the weird encounter with the townsfolk — the forest tempted him whenever he looked at it, pulling him in to whisper its secrets. It unsettled and calmed him at the same time. “Do you trust me?”

A momentary hesitation. Then a keen, maybe too honest, ‘ _yes’_ came from Donghyuck.

“I think we should go back to the woods.”

***

The woods were silent. Eerily so. It was the oddest thing about them.

“It’s like we’re walking in a vacuum. I haven’t heard a bird song since we arrived,” Donghyuck mused. Only the crackle of twigs under their shoes disturbed the unnerving peace. “Do you think these nutters just hate animals? Because if you make a story of that, people will finally care.”

Renjun frowned and turned to look back at Donghyuck. “They didn’t care about a murdered 15-year-old boy. Why would they care about the missing wildlife of a town?”

Donghyuck looked back at him, face unimpressed. He had a twig in his hand and he pointed at Renjun with it.

“I stand with what I said.”

“Donghyuck, your mind sometimes amazes me.”

Donghyuck clicked his tongue.

“I hear a little sarcasm in that but I’ll write it up on your exhaustion. So thank you,” he said, mockingly bowing. “It amazes me as well.”

“I can’t believe my sidekick in a murder mystery is _you_.”

“I’m no sidekick. I’m the love interest,” he replied, unfazed.

“You, flirting with me 24/7 doesn’t mean you’re the love interest. It means fucking accepting that not everyone is interested in you.”

Renjun just knew this was pretty stupid — challenging Lee Donghyuck into this, especially after their kiss yesterday. Donghyuck must’ve known he had an upper hand in this matter. But bickering with him took the edge of walking through the forest. The place no longer felt menacing with an added companion by his side, not when he filled the silence with his thoughts, however ridiculous they were.

“Oh? I’m pretty sure you’re interested in me,” Donghyuck said, like a fact.

“How come?”

“Because if I do this,” Donghyuck leaned in, catching Renjun off guard and crashed their lips together into a quick kiss, enough to steal Renjun’s breath but not enough to lighten his hunger for more. He chased after Donghyuck’s lips but only a self-satisfied smirk awaited him. “You’re not pulling away.”

Renjun didn’t know what to say. His mind was a boggling mess, traitorously focusing only on how soft Donghyuck’s lips felt against his, how his silver bangs tickled his skin, how his cologne smelled divine. He should’ve more concerns about the creepy woods looming over them, almost devouring them but the kiss lingered on his lips, unrelenting as he watched Donghyuck grow more self-satisfied by each passing second.

Renjun was about to open his mouth, to say something, to fend for himself against the devil that was Donghyuck.

But suddenly, Renjun heard snuffling behind them. Breathe caught in his throat and his body rooted to the ground. Far was the time when he thought nothing vicious was out there to hurt him — not after the previous incident. And the fact that no animals had been spotted during their stay kept flashing like a warning sign in his head.

“See? I wasn’t wrong,” Donghyuck still boosted his ego loudly. Renjun picked up more fidgeting noises — someone was nearing them and was growing more and more careless.

Renjun didn’t want to so blatantly advertise his sudden realization, so when he caught Donghyuck’s eyes, he pressed his pointer finger to his lips for him to stay quiet. The smirk immediately fell off Donghyuck’s face immediately, an alert expression replacing it.

“I think we should go that way,” Renjun said, randomly starting on his way. He felt Donghyuck’s nimble fingers hold onto his elbow and tug at his jacket sleeve. Renjun glanced at him.

_“Is something following us?”_ Donghyuck mouthed.

Renjun nodded and whispered back, _“I think so.”_

Donghyuck tapped his back pocket, where Renjun knew the butterfly knife was hidden, and winked.

_“Why do you have a butterfly knife on your person?” Renjun asked him days ago, when Donghyuck lounged in his room instead of his own. He took off his leather jacket and the knife fell out._

_With boredom, he took the knife and slipped it back to his pocket. “We live in a dangerous time. It’s good to be prepared.”_

And Renjun was grateful for his preparedness, even if the danger was greater than a small knife.

Renjun felt like they were surrounded. Twigs snapped under unfamiliar feet, clothing materials rustled and there was the general feeling of living souls breathing around them. It wasn’t hard to pick up the noises after the first one and by the look of Donghyuck growing more and more agitated, he noticed them too. The source of the noises wasn’t alone.

He heard the noises everywhere. He tried to change directions, barking out orders to Donghyuck to follow him but it was everywhere. In the daylight, it shouldn’t be a problem to navigate through the forest — familiar parts came to him again and again like they were walking in circles. Their speed picked up by each snap they heard.

He stopped.

“Renjun, we need to—”

“It was there,” Renjun whispered. He stared at the soft moss bed where, in the picture, the boy laid — no sign of violence, no blood, no trace of anything. In the picture, it seemed like he was just sleeping. “The boy died here.”

Renjun squatted down, despite Donghyuck hurried words of ‘ _we need to get going_ ’ to run his fingers through the moss. It felt mushy under his fingertips, nauseatingly green. He didn’t know what he was anticipating — a big Eureka moment, after 35 years? Especially, after the police searched through the whole forest for evidence that didn’t exist? He felt stupid for expecting anything that pine needles and fallen twigs. With pursed lips, he stood up.

“Can we _go_?” Donghyuck nervously said, looking around every second. Renjun heard too — they were gaining on them.

Renjun was about to nod and dart to somewhere, anywhere but his eyes caught something shiny. Where he stood, at the moss bed he could see a small downhill part of the forest. And there, hidden by trees but something metallic shined, a few miles away.

“What’s tha—”

He couldn’t finish because a small stone flew and hit one of the lenses of his glasses. It cracked and the strength of the hit made Renjun stumble back. A moment later, dozens of peebles fell on them like rainstorm, hitting them. One hit Donghyuck’s forehead, and he yelped painfully. Blood trickled down on his cheeks. Both of them tried to shield themselves from the onslaught attack with their hands but the pebbles came down on them, scratching and hitting with full force.

With a steeled expression, Donghyuck caught Renjun’s hand into his and pulled him.

“We’re going,” Donghyuck said.

They began blindly running in the pebble storm and the marching of footsteps followed them. It was hard to comprehend, of bodiless entities cashing them down. Panic flared up in his chest, suffocating him. He gasped for air as they pounded through the moss covered ground, their sneakers catching in roots and submerge in mud. It was burning his lungs, the fear of the unknown, of them, of the townspeople of whoever those were, catching up to them. If they weren't afraid to use violence like this, what would stop them if they were under their mercy?

"Breathe Renjun," Donghyuck yelled, jerking Renjun to pick up a quicker pace. "Fucking breathe."

The cold air hit his lungs and it made him dizzy. His cracked lens made it hard to navigate. His jacket caught on branches and they tore into his skin, making him bleed. He heard them closer, they were laughing while they tried to escape them -- a game for them, a reality for Renjun and Donghyuck.

For a moment, Renjun wanted to stop. To halt and face these demons, to one up to them even if it killed him. To see them, once more — the familiar faces, calling for him, cheering for him for coming back. But Donghyuck's iron-clad grip on his hand was enough motivation to make him go, to gather the remnants of his energy and go.

The woods shouldn't have been scary, not in the daytime. Renjun didn't find forests creepy — for being a city boy, he found peace in nature. But now wherever he looked, the barks of the trees seemed to stare at him, forming eyes that followed every of his movements. Renjun risked a glance back. Shadows moved in the bright light, unrecognizable phantoms swarming behind them, waiting for the perfect moment to strike them.

"This is a fucking maze," Donghyuck wheezed out, looking wildly around. “I don’t know where to go.”

Laughter hit his ears. Ugly, boisterous laughter rang through the forest, reverberating from the barks of the trees, mocking them -- little prey thinking of running away. Thinking they could outrun their chasers when they were so stupid, so slow. The laughter felt like a stab, an enjoyment of this kind was evil to the core and it broke something in Renjun.

Renjun slowed down, tugging Donghyuck back to stop with him. He felt distant from his own body, his erratically beating heart and his unbearable shortness of breath. His mind suddenly flooded, a sudden calmness taking over him. Despite his trembling hands, he was serene, far from the moment.

"What are you doing?" Donghyuck's voice was hysterical as he tried to tug Renjun along. Some stones had reached them, meaning their purchasers were close. Too close for them to stop now. Renjun saw tears reflecting in Donghyuc's bright eyes, spilling over and running down on his cheeks. Renjun felt his heart clench at the sight, a sudden wave of affection overcoming him.

He wanted to protect Donghyuck. He wanted him to be safe.

"I know where to go," Renjun said, his own voice unfamiliar even to himself. "Trust me."

Donghyuck looked at him through tear strained lashes and nodded. Renjun began pulling Donghyuck along. The trees stared back at him as they ran along them, and Renjun finally had an idea where they were. It came to him like a lightning bolt, sudden and painful -- his head throbbed as they ran along a path that existed only in his mind. He prayed that he was right this time and the weird thought that haunted him came handy for once.The forest became familiar as they pounded through it, the leafage was growing thinner, sunlight leaking through them, lighting up their way with golden hues.

The shadow people behind them fell behind, judging from the lack of noises following them. Donghyuck's grip was hurting his hand but Renjun was glad he wasn't letting go. A lifeline in this madness. Leaves rustled beside them and for a moment, his heart stopped.

He was paying too much attention to the noise to notice his surroundings. The rustling and Donghuykc's heaves resounded in his ears, thinking of only one thing.

Getting them out of there.

As he stepped, his feet caught on a root. He stumbled and pulled Donghyuck with him, as they rolled down on a small hump, out to the sparkling sunshine. Renjun groaned. He was sticky with his own blood and his shoulder felt uncomfortable, but otherwise -- he lived.

Looking over at Donghyuck, who was holding his head with a scrunched nose, he let out a breath of relief. They were out. They were out of the woods, on the pavement. He didn't know if this was only false hope or they were truly safe. He wanted to tug at Donghyuck, to get him going and he wasn't to stop until they reached the motel. Or the next town. The laughter from the forest still rang crystal clear in his head.

Heels tapped against concrete. A pair of leather boots came into view. In synch, they looked up at the source.

"Well," Heejin towered before them, head tilted. "Haven't we told you not to go into the forest?"

***

Heejin took them to the diner and paid for their food. Neither of them was particularly hungry. Donghyuck was still shaken by the happenings, his otherwise happy-go-lucky demeanour was nowhere to be found. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse from screaming.

"What's in the forest?"

Heejin, sipping from her milkshake shrugged. She didn’t even look at them.

"It's nothing."

"It was not _nothing_!" Renjun snapped, slapping his hand on the table. "We were chased and hurt — you can’t say it was _nothing._ Something was there, something very _angry_.”

Heejin looked up at him. Her eyes were void with any emotion and it made Renjun uncomfortable. He should be getting used to this but seeing no light in these people’s eyes always struck him.

"Nothing that should concern you," she answered snarkily, pushing back her long hair. "If you could just listen to what people around here say, you wouldn’t get into these situations."

Renjun was about to open his mouth to argue with her when a hand sneaked on his tight and pressed down on the soft flesh. He looked up to Donghyuck, who gave a subtle nod.

_Let me take care of it,_ his eyes said.

“We’re sorry for going against your advice,” Donghyuck began, his voice sounding apologetic. He twirled the straw between his fingers and peered up from under his lashes at Heejin. “We just never thought it would be _that_ serious.”

Heejin had a pinched look on her face.

“Of course. A whole town advising you not to go near the forest cannot be _that_ serious.”

“Heejin—”

“I'm here to tell you,” she began, cutting Donghyuck off. Her face did not soften by the sight of the bloody messes that were the boys, neither did any of the townsfolk seem particularly surprised. Heejin leaned over the table, her hair pooling on the sticky surface. “And believe me, it's better that it's me who found you and not, ah, nevermind.

“What I want to say is,” she whispered. Her pursed lips began to quiver, seemingly being hard to say the words. “Get out of here.”

“Out of,” Donghyuck pointed at the booth they were sitting in. "Here?"

“No, you idiot. Out of the town.”

“And you tell us this because—” Renjun probed. His own beliefs as in the town wanted to keep and destroy them finally found validation. Fear surged through his veins and he felt Donghyuck stiffen beside him as well.

“That, I cannot tell you. I'm not the one who is supposed to be here, I'm just delivering a message.” For a moment, her gaze softened and she almost looked human. But it disappeared as quickly as it came, her dangerously dark eyes flickering up at Renjun, her bowed lips pulling into a smile. “But keep in mind that not everyone here is your enemy.”

“Can you stop speaking in riddles and just get out what the hell is wrong with this town?” Donghyuck sighed. “We've been chased today through the forest. I'm not up to solving mysteries as of right now.”

The look Heejin gave him was enough for Donghyuck to shut his mouth and sit back.

“I won’t tell you. I _can’t_ tell you,” she said, taking the time to sip from her milkshake just to edge them. She looked around, her eyes flitting from every corner of the diner to look for eavesdroppers. It just came to Renjun that she was also risking here — the thing that was threatening and dangerous to them, the outsiders, also affected its own people. “Just concentrate on getting out.”

Donghyuck pinched the bridge of his nose but winced. There was a blooming bruise spreading there. “How could we leave when neither of our cars is—”

“No,” Renjun found himself saying. Both Donghyuck and Heejin turned to him, confused. Renjun shook his head. “No, we’re not going anywhere.”

“We’re not?” Donghyuck asked back, his voice slipping higher with slight hysterics. “After _that_?”

“I mean,” Renjun back-pedalled, avoiding looking into Donghyuck’s eyes. “I’m not. You can go. If you want.”

“What do _you_ want?”

It struck him how easily this happened. How easily Donghyuck slipped into his life and how easily Renjun let just all that happen. Let Donghyuck become someone to him, someone _important_ when he was so adamant of keeping himself away from people. Of never letting anyone in. It was scary — gradually opening up for him, out of all people, someone so dashing and brilliant – and maybe Renjun was scared but he thought Donghyuck worth the risk.

He turned to him who was anticipating his answer. Renjun saw that he tried to act smug, to show that he wasn’t as eager to hear his answer as he really was. But his eyes glinted with a deeply rooted expectancy.

“I want you to stay.”

A smile spread on his lips, wide and shameless. “Then I’ll do that.”

“You are the people who die in horror films first, right?” Heejin asked, massaging her temples. She sighed and shrugged. She quickly knocked back the rest of her milkshake, standing up straightaway from her seat. “It’s on you now what you do with this information. I’ve delivered my message.”

“That’s fair enough,” Donghyuck snorted, amused.

She was wrapping her scarf around her neck when Renjun tugged at her jacket.

“Thank you,” he said. He meant it.

Heejin was about to answer but she noticed something behind them. The transformation was immediate — the vulnerable, human look abandoned her and the familiar voidness overtook her demeanour. Renjun let go of her jacket. She leant down and whispered, “You haven’t heard anything from me.”

She turned around and left. The heels of her boots were loud against the tiles and Renjun just realized how silent the otherwise bustling diner was.

“What was that?” Donghyuck asked, pushing a spoon to his black eye and sighing at the merciful coldness. “A trickle of hope that not everyone is out of their fucking mind here?”

Renjun shushed him. He listened for the bell to ring, indicating Heejin’s leaving. Nothing came. He slowly peeked out of the booth, which was carefully hidden away from everyone else in the corner.

Johnny was talking to Heejin. He had a pleasant smile on his face as he was explaining something to her and Renjun initially thought nothing of it. But then his gaze slid down at Johnny’s hand gripping her elbow tightly and Heejin’s smile faltering with every word she heard. Around them, every person focused on her and Johnny — a sickening grin tugging on their lips.

Donghyuck laid his palm on his back as he peeked out too and quickly pulled Renjun down by the cuff of his coat. His eyes were full of concern and urgency as he silently communicated through them to Renjun. He must’ve noticed the passive-aggressiveness of Johnny's touch.

The bell jingled. Heejin left.

“Why is he here?” Renjun hissed. Never once did he see Johnny out of his repair shop wandering around during the day.

“Do I seem like I know?” Donghyuck retorted. His black eye was swelling badly and the scraps around his face were covered with dried blood. Renjun could only guess he was in a similar state. Yet, no one batted an eye of their ragged state on their way in.

“That was obviously a rhetorical question,” Renjun deadpanned.

Donghyuck pushed closer, their foreheads almost touching. In a hushed whisper, he said, “He can be here. This is a public place, he can easily be here for lunch or something. He might not even find us—”

“Hey, guys.” Johnny stepped in front of their booth, his enormous hand held high for a wave. When Renjun and Donghyuck turned to him with quivering eyes, he let his hand fall to his side. “What are you up to?”

“We're just—” Renjun began, generally pointing at the untouched food on the table. “Hanging out. Like two good pals.”

Donghyuck pinched his thigh to stop him from talking.

Without asking, Johnny slid into the seat in front of them. He looked taller and broader in the small diner sofa and Renjun distantly thought back to the time Donghyuck told him he had a black belt in Taekwondo. He hoped that was true in case things turned ugly.

Renjun shook his head. They were being ridiculous. He had no proper proof signalling that Johnny was not just an innocent citizen. All his suspicion came from the only fact that he was so normal – and that was hardly anything. But going in the same vein, even though she spurred oddities, Heejin acted normal too, when no one saw. It was just all in their heads – Renjun was already pushed to the remnants of his common sense to be a judge of something like this. And for Donghyuck, Renjun must have rubbed off on him.

“You seem pretty close,” Johnny commented, looking at the tiny distance between their bodies. Renjun wanted to move away, but Donghyuck held onto the back of his coat.

“No need to be jealous John,” Donghyuck purred from beside him. He draped over Renjun's shoulders, nuzzling the intact side of his face to Renjun's cheek. “There's someone out there for you too.”

Emptiness flashed through his eyes at Donghyuck’s words but it disappeared as soon as it came. It reminded Renjun to the hollowness of the stares of the townsfolk. Johnny waved him off, an easy gesture before his smile dropped, concern taking over his expression.

“A little birdy told me you two were wandering around in the forest. And I can see that the forest didn't let you get away easily.”

"It wasn't the forest," Donghyuck's voice was knife sharp as he spat the words. Renjun felt for his hand and gripped it to stop him from spilling anything that might cause a reaction from Johnny.

Johnny leaned back in his seat, rolling his head to rest against the sofa. He considered them with a long look, searching for something. Renjun hoped there was nothing telltale about them but his hopes were in vain — freshly out of that experience in the woods wasn't something they could just breeze over quickly. He still felt Donghyuck's hands tremble in his, despite his familiar carefree demeanour. He was still shaken and Renjun felt remorse for dragging him into this mess. Whatever this was.

“Then what was it?” Johnny inquired. His voice dropped down, a kind smile stretching his lips. Renjun didn’t know what made him want to flee Johnny, what made him so untrusting toward him. He was a pleasant man but his kindness seemed to hide too many secrets for him to be safe.

Donghyuck, too, seemed to share the sentiment. He pursed his lips, unwilling to answer.

The silence seemed to satisfy Johnny.

“See? There’s a reason why we tell you not to go there. It’s dangerous.”

“And what’s the exact reason?” Renjun found himself asking.

“I shouldn’t tell you. You might get _nightmares_.”

The quirk of his eyebrow, his knowing smirk — Renjun just knew Johnny somehow knew about his continual nightmares. He recalled the sound of footsteps from the corridor which he dismissed as Hyunjin walking around. But the way Johnny waited for him, a smug smile etched on his face, to call him out made Renjun's stomach churn uncomfortably.

Tiffany stepped to their table, setting a steaming cup of coffee in front of Johnny. Her fingers slightly trembled and avoided all their gazes. She didn't say a word, she turned around and left. Renjun followed her form — it was weird, Tiffany was practically in love with Donghyuck and she never left out one time to shower him with her affection. Even Donghyuck beside him tilted his head toward her, confusion written all over his face.

Renjun once again noticed the three vertical scars on her nape, dipping under the pink uniform. The same scar he noticed on a few people, but never really thought much about it.

Johnny took the cup and sipped from the coffee. He placed it back on the saucer and looked up at them. As he did so, every ounce of kindness disappeared from his face.

“I know it’s all fun and games to you but I want you to stay away from the forest. Permanently.” His tone was commanding. “You’ve got away with a few injuries this time but you might not be so lucky the next time.”

Renjun nodded. Donghyuck would’ve pressed on but Renjun tapped his thigh to prevent it. He didn’t think Johnny would share any important information with them.

When Johnny sighed, eyeing the pair with his dark eyes, the previous coldness melted away from his expression.

“But seriously guys, what were you doing in there?”

“Y’know,” Donghyuck started with a sigh. “Shaking up things a little bit. It was almost boring living here without anything wanting to kill me. Thrilling as it was, I think I got a good enough scare to last me a lifetime.”

Renjun used the time while Donghyuck was taking all of Johnny’s attention to pull a pen out of his inner pocket with a crumpled napkin origami bird that Donghyuck made some time ago. Something about the scars began bothering him. Especially now, that his own was aching like it was fresh — he had similar scars. Three vertical ones, silvery and precise.

**_Make him turn around_ **, Renjun wrote on the napkin while listening to their conversation.

“If you want something to kill you, you just have to ask. I’ll do it for free,” Renjun said and he placed the napkin on Donghyuck’s lap. He noticed and crumpled the napkin in his fist.

“I don’t even have to ask, you’re doing it already,” Donghyuck complained. He leaned on the table, elbows resting on the cutlery as he gave Johnny a look. “I’m going to be prematurely bald if I continue hanging out with him.”

With a swift motion, he pushed a spoon off the table. It clattered against the tiles loudly. Donghyuck merely gave them an unimpressed look, said ‘ _oopsie’_ and dipped under the table. Renjun couldn’t even imagine a more attention-grabbing way to read a note than this.

When he resurfaced, he pointed at something and yelled, “Johnny, look!”

He slowly turned back to look behind him. On his nape, there were also three neat scars running under his clothes. Renjun sucked in a breath — all these scars matched his own, meaning there must be some kind of connection between him and this town. It was hard to straight out deny anything, not when his past was so blurry, when his memories never returned.

“What should I look for?” Johnny turned back, a curious look on his face. Donghyuck patted his cheeks with his fingers like he was deep in thought.

“Always watch your back,” Donghyuck said solemnly like he was sharing his wisdom. “You never know when the danger strikes. Pay attention.”

“You’re a weird kid.”

“Thank you.”

Those scars couldn’t have been caused by three separate accidents — they were conscious makings, neat and precise, almost made with medical accuracy. It couldn’t be accidents, not when several people wore the same scars. Renjun bit the inside of his cheeks. The thought of him being tied to this town was lingering in his mind, too fearsome to even consider.

He stood up suddenly, almost knocking a cup over. He grabbed Donghyuck’s hand from under the table, his fingers wrapping around him tightly. A remedy to soothe his mind.

“I realized I forgot to wash my clothes. We have to go.”

Without waiting for Johnny to react, they scrambled out of the booth. Renjun pulled Donghyuck out of the diner, his heart pounding in his chest. His thoughts were racing — the townsfolk greeting him back to the identical scars were all evidence. He, somehow, had a past with this town. But that point of his life was dark, only a notebook full of instructions was left behind of it.

The cold air hit him as they stood outside. He could finally breathe again, the scent of the pines and rain filling his lungs. Donghyuck let him have his moment. He stood there in silence, pulling Renjun’s arm closer to tap away on his wristwatch. It was a slow rhythm which calmed Renjun.

Once their eyes met, he smiled.

“So what did you find? I can see on the pretty face of yours that you’ve got the gears churning.”

Renjun didn’t know how to tell him. How to share his fears of being part of this scheme, part of this decay of a town, part of all of this madness.

“I— I don’t know what I’ve found,” Renjun confessed. He wanted everything to stay the same, even for a short amount of time. He had to find out more before he presented all of this to Donghyuck.

Donghyuck’s gaze grew softer as he watched Renjun’s inner battle. He cupped Renjun’s cheek, his thumb softly running over the cut on it. Renjun felt bare under his gaze, feeling like Donghyuck could see through him easily. It was a mixed feeling — he wanted to be seen by him and he wanted to hide. After a moment, Donghyuck’s hand fell from his face.

"Y'know you're nuts too. Wanting to stay in this hellscape when we just got out of—” Donghyuck frowned and gestured wildly. The forest along the edge of the city looked serene, swaying slightly with the wind of an incoming storm. "Whatever that was."

"I saw something there," Renjun said, confidence returning. "They are trying to protect that thing."

“What did you see?”

“I’m not sure.” He cocked his head, trying to visualize it. “It was a big, shiny, metallic thing. But the first pebble came when I had a glimpse of it.”

“I’m not going back there without a good reason,” Donghyuck warned, eyeing the row of trees.

“After this? I don’t want to either.”

***

****

Renjun was sitting in the motel’s laundromat, waiting for the washing machine to finish with his clothes. It was a small room, crumpled with machines heaped on each other and mountains of old, ownerless clothes. The black and white checkered floor and the peeling pink walls reminded him of the ‘80s and he wondered if the boy from 1985 sat in this very place, watching the vortex of bubbles and dirty clothes, while he waited for something ominous to happen.

Did he anticipate his death before it happened? Like Renjun could tell the townsfolk were preparing for something behind his back? Did he know? Did he know he was going to die?

The emotional connection he felt with a dead boy from 35 years before was both amusing and terrifying at the same time.

“I knew you'd be here. You’re telling the truth even when you’re lying,” Donghyuck’s voice came from the doorway, making Renjun slightly jump in surprise. “You were pushing on wearing that sweater for 4 days straight.”

“It’s comfortable.”

“And stinky.”

“How come you can’t go a day without bothering me?” Renjun half-joked, half-wondered aloud.

Donghyuck ignored him and sat down beside him. The silence he provided was unnerving and odd because Renjun was well-used to the constant blabbering of his. The sound of the washing machine felt deafening, the swirling and splashing of the water was no longer giving Renjun peace of mind. Donghyuck, uncharacteristically quiet, stared at the yellow sweatshirt in the machine, almost transfixed.

"Your glasses—"

"They're broken." Renjun looked down at his glasses, spiderweb-like crack on one lens. He let out a bitter laugh. "It's not enough that I'm blindly following traces that do not exist, now I can hardly even see."

After a moment of silence, Donghyuck said, “I thought about what you said. And you might be right.”

“You say it like I should be surprised.”

Donghyuck bumped his shoulder to him, a small pick-me-up gesture. “Do you think the whole town is hiding something in the forest? I mean it makes sense. We were warned not to step there and something attacked us when we did. So we’ve got two unanswered questions: who or what were those things that chased us and what they were protecting?”

Renjun chuckled. “Nice convo you’re having here. If you continue like this you might solve this whole thing just by conversing with yourself.”

“Don’t be like this.” Donghyuck slipped closer, their knees touching. The silence that settled between them was comforting. The room filled with the low hum of the washing machine, the sloshing of water and the pitter-patter of the rain outside. There was not a moment like this in their whole stay when Renjun felt more at peace.

The calm before the storm.

He felt it in the air. The electricity, the silent anticipation that hid in the back of their minds was heavy and frightening. Tomorrow they were finally leaving the town, getting fresh air from this depressing place — and Renjun was still naive enough to hope for new evidence that would lead them to the final crescendo of the story. Maybe the much-needed answers would reveal themselves tomorrow.

“Are you okay?” Donghyuck asked.

Renjun turned to look at him. Donghyuck was watching the washing machine whirl around, but he seemed to be far away. Renjun took a moment to admire him, his round features, his perky nose, his tousled silver hair. He never let himself find him anything but annoying because it was convenient and safe. But Donghyuck was beautiful inside and outside.

He thought he knew what Donghyuck was. He thought he was just a prick from the city — an overconfident loudmouth, indifferent to everything that didn’t involve him — but he turned out to be so much more.

Renjun decided to let himself have this.

He rested his hand against Donghyuck’s nape, fingers playing with his curls. Donghyuck turned to him with wide eyes — Renjun had never initiated so boldly but it was a welcomed change. He didn’t move. His eyes were flickering from Renjun’s eyes to his lips, searching and wishing for answers. Renjun leaned closer, laying his forehead against Donghyuck’s, their breaths mingling.

Renjun kissed the corner of his lips first, edging closer. He felt Donghyuck smiling into the kiss, and it made him push forward. This wasn’t like their first kiss — it held more importance, more emotion. Donghyuck ran his tongue over Renjun’s bottom lip, asking him to open up. It was easy to fall into a rhythm with him. Donghyuck’s hand came up to cradle his cheek, holding him close.

Out of breath, Renjun pulled away, Donghyuck chasing his lips as he did so. He saw the glint of wonder in Donghyuck’s eyes, the faint blush of his cheeks, his red lips.

“I will be okay.”

***

Standing outside in the parking lot, feeling the cold breeze of the morning, seeing the sun creeping over the horizon and the endless ocean of woods should've been a magical experience if Renjun hadn’t been infected with nightmares throughout the night. Exhaustion made him hate everything, especially the blaring light of the rising sun. He looked at Donghyuck beside him, with his stupid leather jacket and clattering teeth and felt relieved that he wasn't the only one suffering here. Donghyuck caught on him staring and turned his puffy, sleep-deprived eyes at Renjun.

“Don't say a word,” he threatened, snuffing out a yawn. He crept closer to Renjun, seeking his body heat. Renjun decided to humour him for a bit and let Donghyuck morph into his back with a satisfied sigh. That didn't stop him from complaining, though. “Why the hell does Johnny have to pick us up at ass o'clock in the morning?”

“He said this is the only time he's free,” Renjun answered. He peeked back at Donghyuck who laid his chin on his shoulder. “Why are you so tired? Weren't you so adamant on getting some beauty sleep last night?”

“I was busy,” Donghyuck said with closed eyes, not intending to explain.

“Busy,” Renjun repeated. “With what?”

Donghyuck peeked an eye open, mischief was already palpable. In the morning sunlight, his eyes were a lighter shade of brown.

“You would like to know, wouldn't you?”

“Forget I asked.”

“Ah don't be such a party pooper, Huang.” Donghyuck nuzzled his face closer to the crook of Renjun's neck. He waited for any reaction – or retribution – for his clinginess and when he concluded that he got a green light, he embraced Renjun.

“You're pushing it.” Renjun weakly warned.

“I don't see you putting up a fight.” The warm breath of laughter hit Renjun's neck. He leaned into the touch, feeling Donghyuck's chest behind him pressing close. “Anyway, I was thinking about how to get rid of Johnny.”

Renjun froze, his eyes turning wide like saucers as he turned to stare back at the other, unbelief dripping from him. Donghyuck let out a strangled sound.

“Like shake him off. Not kill him, idiot,” Donghyuck whined.

“You should’ve put it more clearly.” Renjun huffed, embarrassment rising on his cheeks. “And see, this is the first thing I expect from you. I don't know what it tells you about your personality.”

Donghyuck let go off Renjun, letting the chilly breeze cut between them like a knife. Renjun tried not to miss the touch, but it was hard when the icy coldness seeped into him instead of Donghyuck's warmth.

“You're being a little bitch,” Donghyuck announced, walking around Renjun. He kept the distance between them stubbornly, even if his teeth were knocking together once again. “Just admit that you're a menace who thrives off destruction and murder. Just say it. I won't be surprised, I promise.”

It was time. It was time for the promised fistfight that had been brewing between them. Renjun prepared inside, going for a surprise punch to get advantage on the other.

His plans of ending Donghyuck came to a sudden halt when a car honked at them as it turned into the parking lot. It was an old car, kept up quite well. Johnny rolled down the window and waved at them, motioning for them to get into the car. The music blasting through the radio engulfed Donghyuck sigh of relief and any words Johnny tried to convey toward them. Renjun felt like he was being picked up after school.

“You never got to tell me your plan,” Renjun said in a rush as they rounded the car to hop into the backseat.

“And whose fault is that?” Donghyuck hissed. He didn't care to elaborate his plan because he shamelessly got in and laid down on the entire seat. Renjun stood at the open door, contemplating his choices of having an obnoxious person like Donghyuck his help in this madness. Donghyuck propped himself on his elbows to look at Renjun. “I'm very sleepy. Can you take the shotgun, Renjun?”

“C'mon Renjun,” Johnny said, throwing an arm around the seat. He turned the volume off. “I'll let you choose the music.”

Johnny smiled at him, toothy and reassuring. Renjun didn't know why he was afraid of him but his body responded to him on its own, unconsciously. His heartbeat picked up and his breathing shallowed whenever he was close, his fight or flight instincts kicking in. He didn't know what was about him that put him off so much – he was friendly to them until now, sweet smiles and friendly demeanour that was scarce in this town. Yet, while the rest of the town made him squeezy and uncomfortable with their stares, the more time he spent in Johnny's company the more agitated he got. Frightened, even.

He took in a shuddering breath and nodded.

“And, what's the plan?” Johnny asked once everyone was in place and they were turning out of the parking lot. Renjun turned to the radio, pretending to search for a decent station. From behind, Donghyuck just let out a non-committal little sound. “You know, I also needed some time away from Saker Keeper. I'm glad that we're taking a break from the town. Even if we're going into an identical one.”

Renjun stopped pretending he was busy with the radio. He self-consciously glanced up at the rear-view mirror at Donghyuck. He reciprocated the look.

“We?” Renjun asked, trying to keep his voice levelled. Johnny peeked at him from the corner of his eyes and back at the road.

“Yeah? If it's not a problem. I mean, I don't plan on sitting in the car, just waiting.”

It made sense. And Renjun hated himself for not thinking about it, nor listening to whatever Donghyuck wanted to tell him about losing him throughout the day. But he trusted Donghyuck and he was a slimy bastard, he must have an idea and an experience ready for this.

Donghyuck climbed up, peeking through the seats.

“Johnny, good pal. Of course, it's not a problem,” he said with a bright smile. He leaned closer to Johnny, stage whispering into his ears. “But I want to warn you that it's a date. Please look away when I'm trying to score a kiss. He's shy. Right, darling?”

Donghyuck looked up at him through his lashes. Renjun felt the heat rising on his neck but he was under Johnny’s watchful eyes and Donghyuck offered him a path to follow. He didn’t know what Donghyuck’s plan was with this, but they’d gotten Johnny’s attention with it. Renjun rolled his shoulders back and braced himself for the worst.

“You're wrong,” he said, quickly leaning in, to peck Donghyuck on the corner of his lips. When he pulled back, Donghyuck had a dazed expression on his face.

Johnny let out an amused huff. “Kiddos, looking at you makes me feel lonely.”

Donghyuck collected himself enough to ask, “Lonely enough to stop you from playing chaperone for the day?”

“Good try.”

Donghyuck looked at Renjun through the rearview mirror and shrugged, signalling that he, at least, tried. Then he kicked up his feet and laid across the backseats, quickly dozing off, leaving Renjun to converse with Johnny for the reast of the awkward thirty minutes ride.

***

“I want you to stay beside me,” Johnny said, clasping an arm around Donghyuck’s shoulders when they got out of the car. “You don’t want to get lost here.”

Renjun looked around the town. People walked around them, minding their own business. No one stared at them, no one was watching them. It felt like a gasp of fresh air after being closed off from the world so long. The phone in Renjun’s pocket chimed, something that he grew unaccustomed to through his stay. The signal was nonexistent in Saker Keeper, there was not even a trickle of it to send his message to his roommate of arriving in town.

Now, the incoming flush of notifications flooded his phone — hundreds of missed calls from Jaemin. As he opened his texts, he saw novels typed in by the agitated Jaemin. There were some texts from Jeno too, probably forced to contribute to the search after Renjun.

**From: good boy**

Hey, everything’s alright?

I hope you’re well

Text Jaemin back, he’s going crazy

**From: Jaem**

if you don’t text back to me that you’re alright in 48 hours, i will personally drive to get you!!!!!

take it as a threat

A low whistle came from Donghyuck as he eyed his phone from Johnny’s grasp, nosy as ever.

“Popular much?”

Renjun checked the time and date of the message. He still had a time of that 48 hours. Feeling emotionally drained just by reading through the messages, he pocketed his phone, making a mental note to call Jaemin before they leave the town and go back to the exile that was Saker Keeper. Before his roommate impulsively turned up here.

“Just my roommate. He’s worried I’ll stop paying my share of the rent if I end up dead.” He shrugged.

“Tell him that you’re good,” Johnny advised. “That Saker Keeper welcomed you like you just came home.”

Renjun snorted, almost finding the joke funny if the situation they were in wasn’t so pathetic.

“I’ll do that.”

***

Turned out, losing Johnny was one of the easiest things to do. They just slipped out of the café when he was paying for their bill and his back was to the door.

The police station was a small place. A few desks and chairs were crammed into the room, alongside with a few, very tired looking police officers. A small town like this probably got a few pickpocketing and stealing here and there but nothing too serious. As they stepped in, the smell of cold coffee and sweat lingered around the place. No one paid attention to their arrival. Donghyuck looked at Renjun.

“It's your time to shine.” He stuffed out a puff of laughter and he gestured him to the closest sitting officer. “I want to see you with your journalist mode activated.”

Renjun sent him a dirty look. Donghyuck was enjoying this way too much.

“Good afternoon, officer,” Renjun greeted, putting on his best smile. The officer looked up at him with a sleepy gaze. A solitaire game reflected on his reading glasses, which he exited with a sigh. “I know it's kind of a weird thing to ask but can we talk to someone about a cold case? It happened a few miles away in the place Saker Keeper but as I've heard this police station held the bigger part of the investigation. It was this dead kid who had no DNA or something.”

The officer tilted his head, considering him. He eyed both Renjun and Donghyuck with a bored observation. He slapped on the table loudly and with a grunt, he pushed himself standing. He leaned over the table and sniffed into the air.

“Are you high?” the officer asked in a commanding voice. Renjun opened his mouth to say something but with the utter surprise and mortification, the words of self-defence stuck in his throat. Donghyuck pushed him out of the way in a heartbeat.

“He's got his wisdom teeth removed, please don't mind him,” he said in a pleasant voice, sending Renjun a sharp look. He immediately cradled one side of his face, going along the act. “The anaesthetic got him loopy. Someone stole his phone.”

The officer considered Donghyuck for a moment and sniffed into the air once again. They couldn't get rid of his suspicion one hundred per cent, but he stepped back to gesture at his colleagues sitting behind him.

“Those are the detectives, over there. You can make a report.’ He clasped a hand on Donghyuck's shoulder, whose knees almost buckled under him by the strength of the touch. “And you, take care of your buddy.”

“I will, officer,” Donghyuck promised, laughter hiding in his voice. He threw an arm around Renjun's shoulders and pulled him along. “C'mon buddy, let's get your phone back.”

The two detectives sat by each other. One was resting his head against his pillowed chair, mouth open and light snoring coming from him. The other had a gentle look on his face as the person in front of him was explaining to him with grand hand gestures — the detective didn’t write down a single word from the account, Renjun noted. Without any further option, they settled down in front of the sleeping detective. He didn’t wake at the commotion, so Donghyuck threw his stuff on the table with a loud puff. He stirred and looked at the two with bleary eyes.

“What can I help you?” He rasped. He didn’t try to collect himself — he was ready to get rid of them quickly and go back to his peaceful nap.

Donghyuck nudged Renjun to make him talk with an entertained smirk. Renjun, his cheeks heating up under the detective’s uninterested gaze, recalled the same thing he said to the previous officer in a softer voice. The detective was staring at him, unblinking.

“This is even better for the second time,” Donghyuck commented, leaning back on his chair.

The detective took the mug from the table and sipped from the cold coffee, watching them over the brim. “And what are you wanna do with that murder case, son?”

“Just — read the file. That’s all.” The desperation in his voice was obvious and it made him cringe. He’d be straightforward and decided but instead, he sounded like a schoolkid begging for more allowance from his mother.

“We don’t just hand files over without a good reason,” the detective said, furrowing his eyebrows. Although he seemed like he was trying to get rid of them, he offered, “Are you maybe a relative of the deceased?”

It was odd. How these people were all probably part of the investigation and when they looked at Renjun, they didn’t see the dead boy in the forest. They saw an annoying kid trying to get into their archives, possibly encouraged by some kind of new social media trend to unearth unsolved mysteries. He was the mirror image of the boy and yet, he was no one to these people.

“No,” Renjun admitted. Donghyuck beside him tried to communicate with him through scowls. “But I’m a journalism student and I’d very much like to—”

“Save it, kid.” The detective waved him off. He pushed himself out of the chair, joints cracking as he did so. Renjun watched it with a twinkle of hope in his eyes. “I’ll see what I can do for you.”

They watched the detective shuffle away to an inner room. When he disappeared behind the door, Donghyuck interweaved his fingers on his nape and closed his eyes with an irate huff.

“You do know that he’ll come back without anything and say, ‘ _well I tried_ ’ so we will leave him alone?” He mumbled, clearly not satisfied with how Renjun was arranging this.

“It’s better than nothing,” Renjun said mildly, his attention turning toward the detective beside them and the man furiously explaining something to him. The man’s face was pinched in a manic smile and gestured wildly around his imaginary world. And while he looked gone, he began stealing glances at Renjun and Donghyuck from the corner of his eyes. The detective was barely listening to him, his chin resting against his palm.

Donghyuck let out another annoyed puff and sat up straight. He caught Renjun’s eyes but Renjun stubbornly looked through him.

“He literally offered you a reason to read through the files — Renjun, do you usually _think_? Or are you just like getting things more difficult than they need to be?”

He shrugged. “I thought he might appreciate honesty.”

“Wait here, I need more coffee for this,” the detective of the other desk said loudly, to overbear the man sitting at his table. He stood and turned to head to the kitchen area, massaging his head like he was trying to stifle a brewing headache. The moment the detective was out of the picture, the harsh sound of a chair squeaking against the linoleum came and the man pounded toward them, eyes crazed.

“I can help.” The old man wrapped his hand around Renjun's forearm. He had a strong grip and his fingers dug into his flesh. When Renjun looked up at him, he had an almost feverish look in his eyes. “They won't help you but I can.”

“Excuse me?” Renjun asked, trying to peel off his fingers but the man didn't let go of him. Donghyuck beside him noticed how uncomfortable he had gotten because of the man and stood from his seat.

Donghyuck placed his hand over the man. "Can you let my friend keep his arm, Mister—”

The man blinked up at him with wide, doe eyes, his mouth forming an ' _o_ ', then he let go of his arm immediately. He embarrassedly ran his fingers through his hair, his dark locks becoming unruly under his touch.

“I forgot my manners. Pardon me.” He smiled, an awkward stretch of his mouth. “My name's Kim Doyoung. I couldn't help but overhear what you were telling the officer right there and I can tell you — they won't do shit about the case. I've been coming here in the last 35 years, bringing in newer and newer evidence but they treat me like a lunatic.”

The detective returned with a mug of steaming coffee and stood at his desk, watching the events unfold. He was suspicious — whether of Doyoung or them was not clear. Instead of taking his seat, he stood, ready to jump in if the things turned ugly. The glances Doyoung and the detective exchanged showed their history ran deep. Doyoung waited for the detective to call him out but the other just rolled his eyes.

“We cannot accept conspiracy theories as evidence, Doyoung,” he said, blowing at the scorching beverage in his hands.

“These are not conspiracy theories, Taeyong.” He spitefully spat the name. Detective Lee, as his badge read, just shook his head, placing his mug down on the table and he went to the printer to collect some papers. Doyoung used this time to turn to Renjun and Donghyuck. “See how they treat me? I can assure you these are not conspiracy theories. I know Saker Keeper’s secrets.”

Detective Lee came back with the papers and his eyes slid over the huddled group of three.

“And what are those secrets?” Renjun asked, anticipation rising.

Enjoying the attention he was receiving, he pulled his chair closer and in a conspiratorial voice, he began explaining, “Saker Keeper is not a normal little town as it seems. It has many secrets but lucky for you I—”

Detective Lee pulled at the collar of his shirt, cutting Doyoung from talking. “Stop feeding people lies. Now, come back and sign the papers while you’re still in my good graces and I let you entertain me.”

Doyoung’s face was creased in a bitter expression and he longingly looked back at his audience.

“If you want more information, I’ll wait for you outside of the building.”

“Kim Doyoung—”

They fluttered away from each other seeing the stern gaze Detective Lee sent them. While Doyoung and Detective Lee were going through a document together, seasoned with resentful remarks at each other's expense, Donghyuck moved his chair closer to Renjun's.

“What do you say?” Donghyuck leaned close to whisper.

Renjun bit the inside of his cheeks, unsure what he should say. Looking at Doyoung, his manic eyes and the general exhaustion people in the police station treated him, he thought he might not be the perfect person to follow around — even though he didn't look menacing, no one was entirely safe. But his offer to share some of the things he had found throughout the years was tempting, even if they came through as conspiracy theories. Something was better than nothing.

“Do you have the knife on you?” Renjun asked.

“Always.” The smile that spread on his lips was utterly self-satisfied.

“Then we should go with him.”

The other detective came back to them and sat down heavily on his chair. He let out a long-suffering sigh like the little trip from his desk to the storage room tired him out.

“Sorry kids. I can only give you the information that was published but you already know of all of it — nothing else.”

From the corner of his eyes, Renjun could already see Donghyuck’s smug face as he mouthed _‘I told you so’_. He was neither surprised nor devastated of the news, he, too, anticipated this development. But now he had a string of hope in the person of Kim Doyoung, the local madman. Renjun looked at him, as he stood from his seat and put his jacket around his frame — Kim Doyoung seemed to be around 60 years old, plus-minus a few years. If he spent his entire life here, there was a possibility that he was involved with the case.

“Thank you, detective.” Renjun turned back to the man. “Sorry for the bother.”

The detective nodded and laid back against his chair once again, closing his eyes, indicating the end of the conversation. Donghyuck let out an amused sound when he began snoring in the next second. He had a joke ready, when the other detective cleared his throat behind them.

“Kids. For a word.” Detective Lee called. “You can wait for them outside, Doyoung.”

Doyoung looked like he wanted to argue against the order but at the serious face of the detective, he thought against it. They watched as he shuffled through the station, nodding to each officer like they were in a long acquaintance. Which they probably were.

When Doyoung was far enough, Detective Lee turned to them.

“I won't tell you what you should do or not nor who you should trust or not — but Mr Kim has an unhealthy obsession with Saker Keeper. He comes every week to hand over what he calls 'evidence' but it's just a bunch of hocus pocus about aliens.” The man took a deep sigh, signalling how tired he was with Doyoung's antics.

“Aliens?” Donghyuck repeated. His face was pinched in a considering look.

“Can I ask why he is so preoccupied with that town?”

“He had a best friend when he was young who went to Saker Keeper and never returned. The details were always foggy but Mr Kim became obsessed with the town after that, claiming his friend was taken by aliens and the one who was returned is not the same person.” Detective Lee took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He patted the thick folder that had Kim Doyoung written on it. “All these files, reports and complaints came from him. After the murder of that poor kid, he went berserk. It's a pity. Kim Doyoung was a budding genius.”

“Who's that friend?” Renjun asked, out of curiosity. Deep inside, he almost agreed with Kim Doyoung — everyone in that goddamned town behaved so weirdly, it wouldn't surprise Renjun to find the town rubbed off on that man and Doyoung assumed he was abducted.

Detective Lee took the folder and slipped it into one of the drawers. It struck Renjun that he put it in a convenient place so he could get out the next time Doyoung came with another impossible complaint.

“Johnny Suh.”

***

“Honestly, what did you expect?” Donghyuck’s voice was laced with laughter as he closed the door of the police station. “That they would just hand out the file for you, no questions asked?”

“They do that in the movies,” Renjun mumbled, feeling his cheeks getting hotter. “How was I supposed to know they don’t do that?”

“I mean, it was kind of cool of you to pull the ‘ _I’m a journalism student_ ’ card.” He snickered. Looking over Renjun, he carefully added, “You don’t seem surprised about Johnny.”

“You neither,” Renjun countered. The strange calmness he felt was welcomed after the time he spent anxious and afraid in Saker Keeper.

Donghyuck shook his head with a laugh. “No, no I’m not. It’s like a ‘ _told you so_ ’ moment but no self-satisfaction involved.”

They knew this. After going through the archives at the Town Hall, seeing all the names written on documents from the ‘80s softened the shock the revelation brought. Even Renjun, who initially was sceptical about the people being stuck in time in Saker Keeper, had no difficulty in believing anymore. The other part of the little talk disturbed him, though.

“Aliens, huh?” Renjun mused. He could see his breath as he talked. “This can’t get any weirder.”

But it could get weirder — they found Doyoung resting his forehead against the brick walls of the police station, eyes closed and face strained in concentration, mumbling to himself.

“You've jinxed it,” Donghyuck said with a heavy sigh.

***

Doyoung’s apartment resided on the top of a bakery. The smell of crisp pastries warmed the place but in vain — the apartment was dark, shutters closed and curtains drawn. He kicked his shoes off when they arrived, rushing toward what Renjun assumed was the living room.

“Do you think he’ll murder us?” Donghyuck contemplated as he shook the leather jacket off his shoulder and hung it on the rack. His eyes wandered around the small apartment — no pictures were hanging from the walls, no personal belongings outside. It was bare of everything personal.

“I’ll thank him if he does,” Renjun said bitterly. Donghyuck nodded, agreeing solemnly.

“Here.” Doyoung padded out of the room and impatiently waved them over to follow him. "C'mere."

Donghyuck sent him one last exasperated look before they followed Doyoung into what was supposed to be the living room. Renjun, searching for his notebook in the inside of his coat while they were walking, bumped into Donghyuck.

“What—” he began asking but once he looked up, he understood. While the rest of the apartment was stripped from any sign of life, the living room was covered with a lifetime worth of information. In the room, there was no furniture, only a few pillows thrown on the ground to sit on. Candles illuminated the room, giving them enough light to see the innumerable newspaper cut-outs and printed material plastered on the walls. 

“Why the candles?” Donghyuck asked, amused as he plopped down on one of the pillows. “Artificial light was not creepy enough?”

“I like candles. They smell nice,” Doyoung answered, also lowering himself on a pillow. His joints cracked and he huffed-puffed with difficulty.

Renjun walked closer to the wall, finding a familiar newspaper article there. It was identical to the one he had with the title of ‘The Boy in the Woods’. A long note was pinned to it but the handwriting was difficult to read, a rushed scrawl that showed a feverish need to get the words out quickly.

This room was a shrine to Saker Keeper, every odd moment of the town categorized and carefully inserted into the bigger picture. While Renjun thought he was getting somewhere finally with his investigation, he had nothing on this humongous collection. His fingers ached for his notebook to note things down but it was not inside his coat — he might have left it in his messenger bag on the shoe rack.

“So.” Doyoung broke Renjun out of his thinking. He had an overexcited look in his eyes, a sheen of impatience sitting there, awaiting every question like he was famished for them. His face looked older in the candlelight, his wrinkles carved deeper in his skin, the bags under his eyes more distinct. “What are you curious about?”

Renjun had thought of just pointing at the article in front of him then at his own face. But this thing with the town ran deeper than this, the dead boy was only the cherry on top of the ongoing mystery that was Saker Keeper.

“We heard about Johnny from Detective Lee.” Renjun probed. “We— We know him. Actually, he took us here from Saker Keeper.”

Doyoung’s jaw slacked in awe. “You mean Johnny Suh? My best friend Johnny Suh?”

“We think so.” Donghyuck nodded. “We also heard that something is fishy with him. We cannot agree more with that.”

“Can you tell us more about him? And Saker Keeper?” Renjun asked, never taking his eyes off the wall. His eyes slid over several articles that he had also seen of the murder of the boy but there were the ones that he deemed unimportant. Yet, those were harshly circled with a red pen, several exclamation marks added to it. Renjun squinted, trying to read the article without his glasses in the candlelight.

The request seemed to please the old man. With an exhausted sigh, he leaned against a wall, his shoulders slacking. Like a storyteller, he lowered his voice and began sharing his story.

“As you must've heard of Taeyong, Johnny and I were best friends throughout his stay here. Hell, we even kept contact with each other when they moved to Chicago.” Doyoung sadly smiled, an emptiness filling his expression. “He promised me he’d come back here. And he kept his promise — one day in the early ‘80s I received a call from him that he’d move to Saker Keeper to start his own repair shop there. He was so happy to start his own business and Saker Keeper, it was a small, lovely town in those times, full of life and openness.”

“It’s hard to imagine Saker Keeper like that,” Donghyuck mused, leaning back on his arms.

“Yes, Saker Keeper is not the place that it used to be.” Doyoung agreed. Renjun looked back at him, his wrinkled hands resting on his knees, slightly trembling. To think this man and Johnny were a similar age or _should be_ a similar age made shivers run down his spine.

Renjun walked over to them and settled down next to Donghyuck, their shoulders bumping together. Doyoung cleared his voice and continued.

“We talked over the phone a lot while he was preparing to set up the shop and sometimes I visited him. Everything seemed perfect — until one day when I started noticing the people behaving oddly. The always chatty and charming waitress, Tiffany Hwang, she suddenly seemed like she forgot how to hold a saucer and a cup. She didn’t remember old conversations, didn’t remember anything outside Saker Keeper. This doesn’t sound much, I know, but when you spend a lot of time among these people, you start noticing when something is wrong with them.

“Then more and more people became like that. A shop assistant boy forgot how to use the cash register, the cook in the diner burned everything. And then, Johnny stopped calling me over. I didn’t find it weird, I assumed he was busy. We went on weeks without a word. I tried to contact him and left voice messages for him to call back. He never did, though.”

Doyoung fell silent for a bit. In the dim light, a broken man sat, expression hurt for having to go through the same pain by reliving his memories. He fiddled with the hem of his cardigan, avoiding their eyes.

“You know when you think you’ve found someone who would stay with you through thick and thin, you don’t expect them to suddenly leave.” His voice came out as a mere whisper. “But he left and never came back. The one I found in Saker Keeper the next time I went there looked like Johnny and talked like Johnny — he remembered me, remembered _everything_. He wasn’t like the others, yet he was still part of them. He became distant, cold and — _cruel_ , mostly.”

Renjun, feeling pity for the old man, reached out and tapped his hands. Doyoung looked up at him with a mixture of gratitude and shame. Renjun tried to imagine him living in this cave-like apartment throughout his life, searching for answers why his best friend left him behind so easily — going as far as alienating his whole town with his craze.

“And you began investigating after that?” Donghyuck asked. He was serious now, more serious than Renjun had ever seen him.

“God no.” He chuckled bitterly. “I had enough of Saker Keeper after that moment.”

“Then—”

Doyoung turned his gaze to Renjun. The fragility that surrounded him seconds ago disappeared and turned back into a hungry look. He caught Renjun’s wrist in a hard grip, pulling him closer to inspect his face.

“I was the one who found the body of the boy,” he hissed. “The boy who looked just like you. How can that be?”

Renjun winced, his wrist hurting. Donghyuck was already reaching for the butterfly knife in his back pocket when Doyoung let him go. Renjun pulled away, putting a good distance between them, massaging his aching wrist.

“That’s what we’re also looking for. We hoped to find answers but only stumbled upon even more questions.”

“Sounds right.” Doyoung’s laughter rang back to them in the empty room. He didn’t say more, only further inspected Renjun’s face like he was searching for a crack, a small, hidden place where he was not a one hundred per cent perfect copy of the dead boy. “The resemblance is eerie. But that can’t be—”

“We’ve heard about your theory about — _aliens_.” Donghyuck cut in. Renjun thought he was asking to amuse himself. Entertaining the thought that aliens, out of everything, were involved sounded ridiculous even to his ears. But when he looked over at him, his face was still sporting the previous seriousness, hanging on Doyoung’s words.

“I don’t expect you to believe me. I’m aware of what people think of me.” His voice sounded harsh. He pointed at the far side of the wall where pictures of flying saucers were cut out alongside sensationalist headlines. “But alien abductions and UFO sightings were reported way before Johnny settled down in Saker Keeper and the pattern kept up until the death of that boy. In a concentration that should be concerning, if I may add.”

Renjun and Donghyuck got up and walked over where Doyoung was pointing to. The whole wall was covered only with stories about alien abductions and sightings, blurry images of saucers and long-limbed shadows flying toward the sky. Hundreds of accounts were taped here, taken from local newspapers to friendly letters. Doyoung must’ve spent his whole life unearthing these.

“And how did you realize?” Donghyuck whirled around. Renjun noticed his anxiety flaring, how he kept peeking at the pictures on the walls, his eyes full of wonder and dread. “How did you realize that aliens came to Saker Keeper?”

“Believe me, aliens were not my first idea of what was wrong with the town. But finding the corpse when I was taking jogging influenced me heavily.” Doyoung stood up and walked to the article of the boy. He tore the small note from beside it and showed it to them. “I saw you were looking at this.”

Renjun nodded. “I couldn’t read it though.”

“Because what’s visible doesn’t matter.” Doyoung walked over to one of the candles and kept the paper over the fire, far enough not to burn. As it heated up, new words began forming under each scrawled line in smaller, neater letters. Renjun squatted down to read it.

**_They got everyone._ **

**_I had to leave._ **

**_Pretend I died._ **

**_Never go back to SK._ **

**_Aliens._ **

**_— Renjun_ **

Upon reading his own name on the crumpled, yellowed paper, he snatched it out of Doyoung’s fingers. His stomach dropped and he felt like suffocating as he watched the words disappear into nothingness. Donghyuck put his hands on his shoulders, trying to be reassuring as he whispered, “Breath.”

“So, Renjun.” When he looked up, Doyoung’s smile widened. “I also have a few questions to ask.”

“I don’t think it’s the best time for that,” Donghyuck opposed, rubbing circles on Renjun’s back. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from the small note in his hands, a piece of real evidence to something he was so afraid of becoming the truth.

Doyoung shook his head.

“You’ll be returning to Saker Keeper today, right? If Johnny took you here, he’ll take you back too. Then I won’t have more chances to ask,” he claimed frankly. “I don’t think Saker Keeper will let you go anymore.”

“What the hell man?” Donghyuck’s voice slipped higher, nervousness set in him.

“No,” Renjun said between gasps. “It’s only fair. Ask whatever you want but I’m afraid I might not be able to answer your questions.”

“Judging from your reaction, you don’t remember the past, do you?” Renjun shook his head, taking deep breaths to calm himself. “How did you find Saker Keeper?”

“I stumbled upon an article for a journalism class.”

“How do you find Johnny?” His eyes narrowed.

“Unsettling,” Donghyuck answered. “Like, he always knows what to say. And like he knows everyone’s business.”

“And how about the new people moving there? I’m curious whether they’ve been abducted too.”

“I—” Renjun furrowed his brows, looking at Donghyuck for an answer. He just shrugged. “I don’t think there are new people in town. We found contracts from the ‘80s about most of the residents of the town.”

Doyoung sighed, resting his head against the wall. “I wish I could see Johnny now. He must be a sight, a giant of an old man.”

“When was the last time you’ve seen him?” Renjun cautiously asked.

A row of quick raps came from the front door. The three of them shot their heads up at the sound. Doyoung stood from his crunching position and warily walked to the door. His alertness shown Renjun that visitors were a rare thing for Doyoung.

When he opened the door, Johnny came into view. His usually friendly smile had a sick twist to it.

“Hey, Doyoung. Long time no see,” he greeted. His eyes darkened with a morbid joy as he saw Doyoung’s face of horror, his stiffened frame, his trembling hands on the doorknob. Johnny didn’t wait for him to greet him back, didn’t acknowledge that his presence alone pushed Doyoung out of the loop, sending him spiralling down like he saw a ghost from his past. And that was Johnny — lost and found, and frozen in time.

The lines around Doyoung's face were hard, of years of squinting for the danger that took his best friend from him, carving into the skin viciously. Renjun felt distant from the happenings like he was watching a movie — the absurdum of the situation blooming and withering into a sweet-smelling decay, Johnny’s expression full of self-satisfaction when his eyes slid and met Renjun’s. Donghyuck squeezed Renjun’s hand, his breath caught in his throat. Maybe this was the first time Donghyuck truly realized just how dangerous Johnny was, how they were working with him without even realizing.

Renjun was piecing all of this together like a puzzle, a few pieces missing but the grand picture was clear. Johnny could play with them as he pleased; letting them roam the town, feeling the freedom in their mouths, only to be pulled back with a harsh jank by their collars. It was all part of a bigger plan.

Johnny pushed through Doyoung’s frozen body, his shoulder nudging him away. He stood in the living room, his muddy shoes leaving footprints on the carpet, his hands tucked in his pockets. His gaze roamed the room, smiling slightly at the pictures and articles glued to the wall, the red string following the traces. Lastly, his eyes settled down on Renjun.

“It’s time for us to go home.”

***

The car ride was silent. Renjun rested his forehead against the cool window, trying to externally diminish his feverish thoughts. He didn’t have time to hand the note back to Doyoung, nor did he want to. Johnny threw his arms around his shoulders and stirred them out of the apartment like Doyoung wasn’t rooted to the ground.

“Have you enjoyed Doyoung’s hospitality?” Johnny asked in a high spirit, humming along to the song coming from the radio.

“Very much,” Donghyuck answered. He took Renjun’s hand in his, playing with his fingers absentmindedly. When he looked at Johnny through the mirror, he seemed deep in thought like he was seeing Johnny for the first time in his life.

“Old, he’d gotten. But he was always a clever one,” Johnny snickered, shaking his head. “I cannot believe he spent all those years searching for reasons. That almost makes me pity him.”

Renjun felt nauseous listening to his happy chirping. Doyoung’s information, Johnny’s perplexing behaviour and going back to the prison that was Saker Keeper had him falling apart. When he glanced over Donghyuck, he was in a similar state.

“Hey, Johnny. Can you drop us down here? I feel like I need some fresh air.”

Renjun caught him looking at the long stretch of road that led back to the other town and deemed it long enough for them not to attempt an escape. At least not during the night. He pulled off the road.

“Alright kiddos,” he said as he rolled down the window. He held up a finger and roamed through the glove compartment, where he pulled out a familiar leather-bound notebook. “By the way, you dropped this.”

Johnny gave Renjun’s notebook to him. All the possible words to say died in Renjun’s throat.

“I hope you don’t mind. It was quite a nice read.”

Neither of them said anything and it seemed to please Johnny. Renjun was trying to find a time slot when he could’ve taken the notebook, nicking it away under Renjun’s nose with ease. All his secrets were held there, all of his past, all of the details of the investigation. He ran his fingertips through the edge — some parts were still glued together.

They watched Johnny pull back on the road, wave at them and drive away. He quickly disappeared between the thick fog that settled over the town while they were away. The vapour felt good against his heated skin, and he let himself enjoy a few moments of calmness.

“He wanted us to meet Doyoung.” Renjun realized. Donghyuck beside him let out a small, questioning noise. He looked at him, his gaze frenzied as he went on, “He wanted us to meet Doyoung and understand what’s going on.”

“But why?” Donghyuck furrowed his eyebrows. “That doesn’t make sense.”

Renjun stood there, letting the cold seep into his bones and freeze him. The night was starless as he tried to search for answers in the vast sky but it stayed silent and unforgiving. Somewhere from there came the danger they were facing now and it scared him. The unknown, another lifeform from out there — if Doyoung was right, this was bigger than him, bigger than Donghyuck. They were negligible aspects on the board picture and still, there was something the town wanted from him.

“Because if we know, we will stop investigating. Look at Doyoung, he’s right and no one believes him. No officials will believe when we say aliens took over a town.”

***

When after a long walk back to the motel, they parted ways silently. Donghyuck was uncharacteristically quiet but he gave Renjun a quick embrace before he left for his room. Renjun was too exhausted to try and figure him out and while the thought that the truth might have scared Donghyuck away kept gnawing at the back of his mind, he only wished for a quick shower and a dreamless sleep.

Upon walking into the room, Renjun found a small note on his bed, neatly folded into a small rectangle. When he opened it, the note only read an address. 


	3. tomorrow

“Are you sure it is wise to follow along with a note that was put on your bed, indicating that the writer of the note broke into your room?” Donghyuck asked, sceptical, as he lounged on Renjun’s bed. He decided to pay him an early visit instead of their meeting at the diner for breakfast.

Renjun felt all his common sense slipping through his fingers. He couldn’t remember if he slept at all at night as whenever he closed his eyes, the long-limbed shadows from Doyoung’s pictures infected his mind. But the little note that laid on the middle of his bed only excited him.

“I have a good feeling about it.”

With a sigh, Donghyuck pushed himself up in a sitting position. “Do I have to remind you that just two days ago your instincts led us into a run-in with — I don’t even know what that was, my dearest Renjun?”

“You don’t have to come,” Renjun offered.

Renjun realized how much he relied on Donghyuck until now. How he let him navigate them through the hardships, how he used him as a shield from the town. But he felt like this was a good direction, however insane this sounded. If Donghyuck didn’t want to come with him, he had to learn how to go through that alone. Maybe he should borrow his knife.

The hurt that reflected in Donghyuck’s eyes made Renjun wish he never said anything.

“Oh. I see.” He cleared his throat. “Okay.”

“I _mean_ , I want to go there but I don’t want to get you involved if you feel like it’s dangerous,” Renjun explained, the words rushing out of his mouth to make the disappointment disappear from his eyes. Donghyuck perked up, listening to him intently. Renjun stopped in front of him, looking into his eyes so he left no room for misunderstandings. “I got you into enough difficult situations. I don’t want you to risk anything just for me.”

Donghyuck silently sat on the bed for a long moment, staring at him. Renjun felt nervous, of saying too much or too little — he couldn’t convey with words how important Donghyuck had become for him, how he became a shelter for him. Donghyuck suddenly hopped off the bed, his eyes blazing with a new fire and caught the note out of Renjun’s hand.

“You can’t get rid of me now even if you wanted to. Now let’s go to that mystery house of yours.”

***

Despite being the beginning of October and the fact they were up North, the weather wasn’t too chilly. The fog from last night settled in heavily, making the air feel heavy and damp. Yet, Renjun drew his jacket tighter on his body, suddenly feeling all warmth leave him. The little note led them there, into this ruined post-Victorian house just outside the town, untouched and serene on its own at the edge of the endless forest. It might be just Renjun’s mind, overly creative and running non-stop that found the house almost malicious as they neared it. A sleeping monster.

“Heejin was right. We’re the first ones to die in a horror movie,” Donghyuck commented as they stood in front of the building. It towered over them like a threatening shadow and Renjun was grateful he remembered to charge his phone because the flashlight would be surely needed. Donghyuck peered over him, a small smile forming on his lips. “Do you still have good feelings about this?”

Renjun gulped. The tall windows of the house looked like eyes that followed him. “Definitely.”

“Then, the floor is yours.”

Renjun shifted from one leg to another. He felt like he was being watched — he looked over his shoulder but he couldn’t see through the thick fog.

Donghyuck’s hand was warm as he intertwined their fingers. Renjun shook off the first instinct to sneer at him because the touch felt nice and reassuring and he should lay down on antagonizing Donghyuck.

“You looked like you were cold,” Donghyuck explained defensively.

“Alright.”

As they stepped closer, the building stood tall and scary, heightening over them like a dreadful monster. The mouldy, rain-soaked walls indicated that the ruin hadn’t been touched for years, not by human hands at least. The copious layers of pine needles on the porch swallowed their footsteps, making Renjun feel like they were creeping up on someone or something. Beside him, Donghyuck began whistling, probably the feeling paralleling in him.

It wasn’t just the building per se that creeped them out. It was the note left for him to get them there — it was too clean, too perfect. Standing there, it felt like a trap. Renjun didn’t want to admit it to Donghyuck now, not when he gave in to come with him.

As he looked at the heavy-looking oak door with peeling green paint, his heartbeat increased and his breathing became laboured. He distantly registered Donghyuck’s thumb running over the back of his hand to calm him down. With a heavy sigh, Renjun reached out to try the handle. It was locked.

“Okay. I expected nothing else. We’ve to carefully inspect—” Renjun halted his sentence when he heard a loud bang. Donghyuck threw a satisfied grin towards him and threaded inside the abandoned house. “What the—”

“If we do everything according to your plans, we’ll never finish investigating,” Donghyuck said. He beckoned Renjun. “Now, come on in.”

“You are a menace, Lee Donghyuck,” Renjun said as he eyed the broken lock. Another thing for the people of the town to hate him. Good.

“Aw, no need to suck it up to me, babe. I already quite fancy you.”

He was all sheepish smiles but Renjun could see the tremor in the curl of his lips and the glances he threw over his shoulders. Renjun decided to let the remark go unanswered, needing to focus on the task in hand. Cautiously, he stepped into the house. Deep down he waited for the floor to creak but there was nothing but silence. Deafening silence.

Good thing he had his personal noise machine.

“So where do we start?” Donghyuck asked as he pulled a finger on the surface of a shelf, immediately getting into a sneezing fit from the amount of dust gathered. As the sneezes shook through his body, he bumped into one cupboard and he accidentally pushed down a vase. It shattered on the floor, the noise ricocheting back from the walls. Donghyuck looked up at him, concern and regret swimming in his eyes. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Whoever was there to murder us must have fled by now, so I guess we’re quite safe now.”

Donghyuck looked around with newfound nervousness like the thought of someone else being in this building never occurred to him.

“The one who left the note — do you think they will be here?” He asked cautiously.

Renjun looked around, at the heavy grime setting over the place like snow. He first thought that this was going to be a meeting but the more he thought about it, the less likely it became.

“Somehow, I don’t think so.” He shook his head. The house itself was a message, something that the sender wanted him to find. Otherwise, it would have been indicated — at least he thought so. Seeing his shoulders slack with relief, Donghyuck seemed to accept his theory. “Let’s look around.”

“You know I trust you but if you say we should split up, I’m bolting out of the door.” He gripped Renjun’s hand tighter. “Just sayin’.”

Snickering, Renjun held up their interlocked hands. Donghyuck’s fingertips were turning white with the strength he was applying on his hand. “Not like I have a choice.”

In the dark, Renjun wasn’t sure what he saw on Donghyuck’s face was a blush.

“Shut up, you love this.”

Renjun just hummed.

They began the search, moving slowly through the house with the flashlight of the phone on. The hardwood floor creaked under their steps and Donghyuck sang to trample the sound. There was hardly anything on the first floor — old furniture and antiques laid here and there, untouched for years.

They ascended the stairs to the first floor — the painting hung on the walls made the second-floor friendly, giving more life to it. They arrived in a huge room, stuffed with bookshelves and round tables. The two windows he’d seen outside that reminded him of the eyes of the house were there, hidden behind thick curtains that blinded the monster. When they reached one of the windows, Renjun pulled the curtains open, letting some sunlight in. The smell of mould and dust filled their nostrils, the smell of decay and the passed decades.

“I just can’t wrap my head around why we needed to come here,” Donghyuck mumbled, taking a book off the bookshelf randomly. He flipped it open but with a sigh, he placed it back. “Russian classics. Not exactly my cup of tea.”

Renjun, who stood in front of the window, was about to walk over to him when something shiny caught his eyes. With narrowed eyes, he looked outside. The sharp light reflected off some kind of surface, right at Renjun, blinding him momentarily. He didn’t understand. Through the thick fog, there was only minimal sunlight pouring in. The light reflecting off the surface had to be artificial. He tried to concentrate on the thing but obscured behind dense rows of trees and the fog, his already bad eyesight couldn’t give him a good enough answer.

“Donghyuck, come here. What do you see there?” Renjun pointed at the general direction of the thing.

“Uh, I don’t know.” Donghyuck also narrowed his eyes to see better. He walked closer to the window and pushed his forehead to the windowpane. “Give me your phone.”

Renjun reached it out to him. Donghyuck opened the camera and zoomed in until he could. He snapped a few pictures. Switching to the gallery, he showed the pictures.

“This is some kind of metallic thingy.” Donghyuck pulled his mouth aside. “I don’t know what this is.”

Renjun tilted his head to get a better view of it. It was only a small part that peeked through the trees, huge and round. It reflected the light well because it was covered with metal — similar to something he had already seen.

“It’s the thing I saw in the forest,” Renjun excitedly said, tapping the screen of his phone. “The thing I thought they were trying to hide.”

“And what is that exactly?” Donghyuck still looked at the photo like he was trying to solve it.

“What if—” Renjun cut himself off, biting his lips. This was crazy to even consider but Doyoung’s explanation covered too much not to believe him. He might be naive to just accept everything but Johnny’s damned smile felt like a justification for the matter. “What if this is a saucer. A UFO.”

He was afraid to look at Donghyuck, in case he judged him. But he just pushed his goosebumps covered arm under Renjun’s nose.

“I hope you’re wrong.” He whistled. “Because this shit is creepy.”

“Say, Donghyuck, do you believe in aliens?”

It was something that had been bothering Renjun. Donghyuck believed in this so readily. Renjun had his own insecurities about the topic but Donghyuck’s reactions – from the first time they’d heard about the aliens to this hypothesis about the UFO, he never raised a single question nor disagreed with it. The serene calmness that he took the information was almost scary.

Renjun remembered all the articles he read and videos he watched about aliens for fun. He liked the idea of having another lifeform out there, so far away. The thought was comforting, the world less lonely. But what was happening in front of their noses, the supposed abductions, the eternal life the townsfolk seemed to be stuck in, the sudden changes in the people – this wasn’t what Renjun had in mind.

“It’s hard not to after all of this. Aliens are far more acceptable than — I don’t know.” Donghyuck shrugged. “It’s somehow scarier to believe that they became like this on their own. Why?”

“I was just wondering,” Renjun huffed. The more he looked at the picture, the more he could see the true form of the machine. It was identical to the blurred photographs Doyoung had out on the walls. “Do you think this was what the sender of the message wanted to show us?”

Renjun thought about it – if they were so adamant of hiding the machine, of chasing them away the moment they got a glimpse of it, wouldn’t that mean it was quite an important part of the invasion? Everything they had to turn people had to be there. But the forest stood locked for them, impenetrable until the town let them have it.

“I’m not sure.” Donghyuck hummed. “We should still look around. I’ll go upstairs and you look around the other rooms.”

“Whatever happened of not splitting up?” Renjun asked, the corner of his mouth lifting in a teasing smile.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures.” Donghyuck straightened his back and pushed his chest out proudly. Then he deflated. “And it’s quicker. Also, we’ve covered most of the house now and we only found some old stuff and dust.”

Renjun thought for a bit, looking around the house – a few rooms and the attic remained uncovered and the sun was already going down, the fog growing thicker and greyer as the twilight neared. What he really did not want to do was stay in the house during nighttime. So far nothing happened with them but being in an abandoned house, so close to the edge of the forest was making him nervous.

“I’m glad you’re choosing the attic. Have fun with the century-old ghosts.” Renjun gave him a toothy smile and patted him on the back. It seemed to only dawn on Donghyuck that he willingly choose one of the scariest parts of the house, judging by the faltering of his stupid confidence, but he held on.

“Oh man, I should be a gentleman and let you have the fun. You’re the one who would seamlessly assimilate into a room full of ghosts,” he said, pinching the fabric of Renjun’s knitted vest between his fingertips. “You are very sexy in that repressed English teacher style, but God, who still wears a vest?”

“Me, apparently,” Renjun grumbled, bumping him away with his hips. Donghyuck stumbled forward and sent him a stinky look. Renjun shooed him away. “Go! But if you get haunted, that’s entirely your own fault.”

“This is what I get for being brave. No teary goodbye, no kisses. This is a scam.” Renjun heard him mumble as he walked out of the room. With a loud creak, Donghyuck pulled the ladder off the ceiling and alongside a myriad of complaining, he disappeared.

Renjun just shook his head, with a smile tugging at his lips. Donghyuck could be ridiculous at any given time – and it usually helped Renjun get his head out of his own ass, to stop his constant overthinking tendencies and involve him in the moment.

He looked around, the room suddenly feeling cold and too large without Donghyuck in it to lighten the mood. He had only a few rooms to look around – one that looked like a master bedroom and a nursery. Something was gnawing inside of him. He’d seen enough horror movies to know that the nursery was the other often-haunted rooms, so he braced himself and stepped inside.

The nice blueish flowery wallpaper was rolling down the walls. At some places, the roof had given up and the rainwater soaked the ceiling into ugly yellow spots, bubbling and cracking all over the place. It had probably been a beautiful room once – Renjun could see the small children running around, playing with the dollhouse of the same built like the house, or swinging on the rocking horse in the corner. This was the first room of the house that held the faintest remembrance of someone living in there.

Walking around, Renjun let his fingertips run on the wallpaper. There was nothing out of ordinary here – the odd thing was that everything was neatly placed, toys tuck into chests, colouring books set into a neat pile on the table. Not a single thing was out of place, not like the other parts of the house. The whole house seemed like it was left in a rush – things were left out, books placed open on the armrest of the couch, cups left randomly around the house.

Renjun stepped to the table, opening the first notebook, he found the scrawling handwriting of a child in it. He had a hard time reading the small paragraph, especially without his glasses, but he slowly read aloud to himself.

“A new boy came to town and I want to be friends with him. He’s sad because his dad died and they had to move here from the city. H. agreed to help me bake sugar cookies for him to welcome him.” Renjun’s voice died as his gaze slid up to the drawing, two girls handing a basket full of cookies to a smiling boy.

A diary, he realized. He felt like he was intruding – his dearest possession was his notebook and Johnny possibly prying into it, laughing of pages and pages of failed attempts to uncover the secret of the town, only to hand the answers to him on a silver plate made him jittery. He bit the inside of his cheeks and closed the diary, placing it back on the pile. It was not like he would find traces in the diary of a child, was it?

He looked around once again and something caught his eyes. Under the bed, some papers stuck out, yellow and crumpled, hidden away. Renjun had half a mind to just let them there, probably drawings or more diary pages tucked away for safety but then curiosity got the best of him and he squatted down to retrieve them. A few written pages and several untouched ones were tied together with a precise bow, weathered by the years. Renjun began thumbing through them when something caught his eye – his name was blaring back to him. He was about to read the whole page when a yelling broke his attention.

“Hey, Renjun!” Donghyuck called for him from the attic. Renjun snapped his head back, the papers slipping out of his hands. “I think you should see this.”

The urgency in his voice made Renjun nervous. He pursed his lips, bending down to collect the papers from the floor and slipping them into his bag. No one was going to miss those.

Confused, Renjun climbed the ladder. While the whole house was filthy and mouldy, the smell of the past twisted his nose. The thick layer of dust was only broken by the footprints Donghyuck left throughout the floor, otherwise, everything was hinted with it like sugar on a gingerbread house. Renjun sneezed once he was up. He pulled up his shirt on his nose to block the nasty stench.

“So, what do you want to show me?” he asked as he strolled to where Donghyuck was kneeling. He didn’t look back at Renjun as he peered over his shoulders, his eyes were glued to a certain point on the ground. Renjun squatted down beside him, nudging him with his elbow. “What now, Donghyuck, the cat’s got your tongue?”

Slowly, Donghyuck lifted his head. He opened and closed his mouth, brows furrowing. Then, without saying anything, he handed Renjun a stack.

They were pictures.

“These were hidden under the board. I’ve only noticed because one wasn’t placed back fully,” Donghyuck explained, then tapped Renjun’s arms. “Look at them.”

Renjun looked down at the photos. On the first, a small, familiar little girl stood in front of the house, face serious and holding onto a stuffed animal.

“I don’t understand why I have to—”

“That’s Hyunjin.” Donghyuck pointed at the little girl. “Don’t tell me you don’t recognize her.”

Renjun pulled his mouth aside, switching to another photo. Now two girls were holding hands and smiling at each other, dressed up as princesses for Halloween.

“If that’s Hyunjin, then this is—” His fingers traced from one girl to another. It was weird seeing them, smiling brightly, eyes alight with so palpable love for each other. Now they were an empty, almost hollow copy of themselves. “Heejin? They were friends? Then why isn’t she doing anything with her crush?”

Donghyuck groaned.

“That’s not important. What’s important is…” He took the pictures out of his hands and shuffled through them, until he found what he was looking for. He trusted the picture out for Renjun to see – now, there were three children. Between Heejin and Hyunjin, Renjun found himself. He was so young there, no more than 10 years old, holding a basket of cookies. He looked down at the date of the picture – 1980. “You were really part of this town.”

Renjun sucked in a shuddering breath. “Yeah, it’s like – not even surprising. My name was there on Doyoung’s note too.”

He quickly flipped through the rest of the pictures. In them, they were growing up, from children to prepubescent kids, always huddled together, always the three of them. Renjun looked at his face, smiling back at him, the obvious sadness that radiated from him on the first picture gradually disappeared. He was happy, he realized.

Out of the photos, a small note slipped out.

**_You belong here._ **

Donghyuck pushed closer to him and he felt his breath hit his cheeks. His fingers shook as he picked up the note, turning it around to search for more explanation. So this was the aim of the note left on his bed, to tie him completely to the town – he was the boy who died in the forest, he was the one who supposedly had no DNA, no name. But the town knew him, Doyoung knew him – seeing the pictures, he spent a good chunk of his formidable years in Saker Keeper.

“How that can be?” Donghyuck whispered. His eyes were transfixed on the picture. “You’re not like them. What happened?”

“I—I don’t know.” Renjun’s voice trembled as he said. The more he knew the more lost he got, slowly they’ve got all the pieces but it was hard to place them together. There was a wonder that reflected in Donghyuck’s eyes when he compared the picture to Renjun, his eyes flitting up and down, his mind trying to work out the details, trying to solve the problem with all the information they had.

“You really don’t remember growing up here?” He pushed.

“Donghyuck—”

He searched Renjun’s face. He must’ve seen how utterly confused and lost he was, how his grip on the photos tightened and his eyes burned with unshed tears. He existed and he did not, he was dead and he was not at the same time – he was a mistake of some kind. A mistake the town was trying to eliminate.

“You don’t have to tell me anything. Only if you want to.” Donghyuck cupped his face tenderly, thumbs caressing his cheeks. Renjun didn’t want to cry, he wasn’t the type to easily cry but as the next words left Donghyuck’s mouth, hot tears rolled down on his cheeks. “But tell me you’re not part of this.”

“How can you say that?”

Donghyuck said he trusted him. The camaraderie between them felt solid as the time ticked away, the danger of the town pushing them together to stand side by side – but Donghyuck wavered, Renjun could see on his face. He could see the doubt, now that it was fully confirmed that he was part of this town. He could see that Donghyuck was considering him in a new light, searching for anything that would suggest he was not completely human.

“Renjun, you told me that you don’t remember this town. But Saker Keeper seems to remember you.”

Renjun pulled his face away from Donghyuck’s touch, ripping himself away from him. His hesitance tore into Renjun like a knife.

“Do you think I would’ve come back if I knew? If I knew all of _this_?” He motioned to the entirety of the small town spreading in front of them. In the setting foggy darkness, the town seemed even smaller, the buildings compact, the people tiny nuisances. From there, the town didn’t look vicious but Renjun felt it surge through the streets like poison in the veins. “I haven’t shared everything with you Donghyuck, but to even assume this. That was low.”

Regret filled Donghyuck’s brown eyes as he took in Renjun’s trembling body. The pity was Renjun’s tipping point, when his artificial confidence shattered on itself, as he constantly tried to remain mentally stable in a place that made him question his existence. His soft sobs rang through the attic, his tears staining his shirt as they fell. He angrily wiped them away, hating to show weakness in front of anyone. He couldn’t look at Donghyuck. Instead, he watched his soiled red Converse sneakers, nervously shifting from one leg to another.

Renjun thought Donghyuck was too proud for apologizing. Especially, now, when he had every right to suspect Renjun – all the evidence was against him. The sneakers started toward him and Renjun thought it was his cue of leaving. But they stopped right in front of him.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that” he said softly. He wrapped his arms around Renjun, pulling him to lay his head on his shoulder. Donghyuck buried his face into his hair, caressing through his locks with his fingers. “I don’t know what’d gotten into me.”

Renjun thought about pushing him away but the sincerity in his voice signalled that he was truly sorry. And he couldn’t hold it against him – paranoia seeped into them easily in this town, the ceaseless feeling of threat setting into them, poisoning their thoughts. Renjun wasn’t entirely honest with him either, choosing to stay quiet about his past. So now, he let himself the luxury of doubt and allowed Donghyuck’s embrace to engulf him and fill his senses – the soft leather pressed to his cheek, the blunt fingernails scraping his scalp, the rhythm of his slow breathing.

For now, it was okay.

“I’ll tell you what I know,” Renjun said when he felt steady enough to peel away from Donghyuck, his voice hardening and he gaining back his previous fire. “Just not now, not here.”

Donghyuck looked unsure. “You don’t have to.”

“But I want.”

***

He stuffed the pictures next to the papers. Now he had some clues what the hidden pages contained by mentioning his name. He planned to go through them, to pick up memories of a life he didn’t remember but not today. It was already taxing to go through the house – he only wanted to have a nice, hot shower and sleep. But now that Donghyuck felt remorseful for what he said, he became even clingier than before, following Renjun into his motel room, without asking.

“I said not now,” Renjun sighed as he watched Donghyuck kick off his shoes and shuffle to the bed.

“I know,” he said, plopping down on the mattress. Something fell off the bed as he did so. “I just wanna enjoy your company a little more.”

“We spend every second of our waking moments together. I simply do not wish to see you more on top of the usual,” Renjun grumbled and bent down to pick up a small paper folded into half from the ground.

“Keep saying that and one day you might truly believe it,” Donghyuck sing-sang, throwing his hands behind his head to rest. He looked curiously at the paper in Renjun’s hands. “What’s that? Another note?”

“I thought so. But it’s empty.” Renjun held up the unfolded paper for him to see. Nothing. Donghyuck made grabby hands for it and he gave it to him. Running his fingertips on the paper, he hummed.

“I think someone wrote on this,” he mumbled and raised it to the lamplight to shine through it. He knitted his eyebrows together. “I don’t want to sound like a smartass—”

“That’s a first.”

“But what if there’s a hidden message in this one similar to the one Doyoung found in the boy’s hand.” He lowered the paper, watching for Renjun’s reaction.

“Huh, I haven’t thought of that,” Renjun admitted. “We need to create heat.”

Donghyuck took off the lampshade of the lamp on the bedside table and tested it with his fingers. He quickly pulled back with a pained expression.

“Found it. This lightbulb is flaming hot,” he winced and pushed the paper to the lightbulb. They watched, fascinated, as words began appearing.

**Come to the motel roof tomorrow at midnight — Hyunjin**

“Hyunjin?” Donghyuck asked and furrowed his eyebrows. He pulled the note away, inspecting it closer. “I kind of anticipated Heejin out of the two.”

“Me too,” Renjun agreed.

To be honest, Renjun, with a newfound knowledge of a friendship, had anticipated something from Hyunjin when they stepped into the motel. He didn’t know why but knowing that they were once friends made him watch out for her more. But when they stepped in, Hyunjin’s eyes widened and she scrambled away to hide behind the ancient computer – the usual reaction to them since day one. Her gaze followed them through the hall, still hollow and empty.

“Will we willingly walk into another trap?” Donghyuck groaned, rubbing his tired eyes. “ _Again_?”

The photos and diary entries feeling heavy in his bag, Renjun said, “Yes, we will.”

***

Renjun’s nightmares were evolving monstrosities. They formed and fell apart each night, making up intricate messes from his anxieties and experiences. Saker Keeper plagued his mind – the scene always started the same. He was alone in the forest. For a while, it was calm and serene – the sun shining behind him, the rustle of the leaves filling the silence, the crispy fresh air filling his lungs. It lulled him into believing everything was alright.

Then the sky darkened and the fog lifted. He had a hard time crossing through the forest at this point. His mind was screaming at him to get out of there, to run. He tried to run – but his feet wouldn’t take him anywhere. Slowly he began hearing the others, appearing one by one. Now, he was more familiar with them. At one point, Donghyuck appeared too, looking just like them. But now he had Heejin and Hyunjin on each of his sides, wicked smiles on their lips.

Donghyuck showed Renjun the butterfly knife in his hand, pointing at him like at a target. He swung and the blade pierced through his shoulder. Renjun painfully cried out, but his voice was drowned with the laughter of the townsfolk around him. He lifted his fingers to touch the warm blood flooding out of the injury, trying to stop the bleeding – but it was in vain.

_“You came back, you stupid boy. When you escaped so luckily.”_ Johnny’s rumbling voice came from right behind him. Suddenly, his hand wrapped around the hilt of the knife, tearing it out of the soft flesh. Renjun fell on his knees, screaming with pain. _“It’s okay. It won’t happen again. I guarantee it.”_

A bright light flashed on, painting the forest unrecognizable. The townsfolk cheered, their long shadows dancing around the light. Renjun, gasping and sobbing, narrowed his eyes to see the source – a saucer, levitating over them. One person began floating upward, his body changing from the usual paunchy, balding man to unknown shapes until it disappeared into the saucer. Gradually, every person in the forest was floating upwards, clearing the space from their ferocity.

Johnny stayed behind him, even when Renjun felt his knees slowly leave the ground. The edge of the knife pushed into his throat.

_“Goodbye.”_

Renjun sat up so quickly, the whole room was swaying with him. Cold sweat drenched his pyjamas, which clung into him like a second skin. He unconsciously tapped at his shoulder – no injury. Thank God.

His breath quickly slowed down – he was getting used to waking up to these dreams almost every night. It was always the same and Renjun was fearful that these nightmares were a prophecy of some sort. For a while he thought these were snippets of his unknown history with the town but then realized, Donghyuck wouldn’t be there then. But it was not possible to see the future, right?

Anxiety sat heavy in his stomach as he padded out to wash his face with cold water, scrub away any remnants of the nightmare residing in his mind. He drank some water and was about to lay down again, trying for another fit of sleep but his hands began to shake when he reached for the duvet. He wasn’t ready yet for the possibility of another nightmare.

He contemplated between reading a few pages of the diary he nicked or writing – it always helped him calm his nerves and connect ideas – but his eyes were puffy and dry, irritated by the strain he put on them.

His feet unconsciously carried him through the room, out to the corridor. The bright yellow light blinded him for a moment but then he saw – Heejin was leaving Donghyuck’s room. She didn’t notice his appearance as she quietly pulled the door close and Renjun hid behind his door, leaving open only a small crack that he could see through.

Heejin’s movements were clumsy, he noticed. Her long hair seemed to disturb her, as she accidentally caught into her lock with her fingers. Her steps were less of the natural elegance she usually carried herself and more an odd stiffness as she walked through the corridor almost automatically.

Renjun closed his door. Donghyuck taking someone up his room wasn’t his business. He couldn’t even give a name to the thing that had been going on between them – and they weren’t exclusive, right? Renjun bit his bottom lip as he nested inside of the embrace of the blankets and tried to ignore the ugly feeling coiling in his stomach.

***

“Did you have a good night?” Renjun’s willed his voice to be light and teasing as Donghyuck sat in front of him, snatching his mug of coffee away with a grunt. He had dark circles around his eyes and he looked pale as he nursed the coffee, not even commenting on the taste anymore.

“I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck,” Donghyuck grumbled.

“Oh, I can believe it.”

Donghyuck let his forehead fall on the sticky surface of the plastic table, which he regretted immediately but didn’t move. But then Renjun’s fingers began to untangle his unruly curls and he moved a little closer, almost purring at the touch. Donghyuck enjoyed the scratches of the blunt fingernails on his scalp, his shoulders slacking and closing his eyes.

“What are you on so early in the morning?”

“I was wandering around last night because I couldn’t sleep and saw Heejin leave your room.” He let out a noncommittal sound. “Who would’ve thought of you?”

Donghyuck looked up at Renjun and his fingers stilled in his hair. Donghyuck’s face creased.

“What do you mean? I was alone.”

“No, I swear to God.” Renjun tilted his head. There were many things that he would blame on his malfunctioning brain but this was not one of them. “Heejin came out of your room at around 3 AM. I was surprised because I didn’t know you were so chummy with each other.”

“We’re not. She hates my guts but you’ve witnessed that.” He closed his eyes again, long eyelashes fluttering against his cheeks. Renjun hummed – Heejin hadn’t seemed very taken by Donghyuck. Even so, her obvious crush on Hyunjin was another aspect that went against all of this. After a moment, Donghyuck raised his head, a sly smile curving on his lips. “You sound jealous.”

His stalled fingers fell to Donghyuck’s nape. He ran his fingertips on the sensitive skin there, up and down, and goosebumps arose in the wake of his touch. His careful touches stopped at a thin line of the gash and Donghyuck hissed, swatting his hand away. “What is that?”

Donghyuck shrugged, cupping his neck.

"You're avoiding answering,” he said, reaching through the table and holding Renjun’s face in his hand.

Donghyuck often joked that he was like the sun, lighting up everybody's world with his mere existence. Renjun then usually just scoffed and told him to stop being delusional because he was not that special. The jokes were on him now, with Donghyuck's burning touch on his skin warming up his touch-starved being. It was like the scorching sun beating down on him and he didn’t want to, couldn’t pull away.

“I'm not avoiding anything, I just don't think your question deserves an answer,” Renjun answered defiantly.

Renjun straightened his back and let Donghyuck hand fall from his nape to his shoulder. His face was dangerously close to Donghyuck's, he saw the constellation of his moles on his cheek and neck, and the gold dots in his irises. Renjun refused to be the one who chickened out.

Donghyuck was shamelessly bold as he inched closer, never backing away from a good dare.

“Silence is a form of yes, y'know,” Donghyuck said, not pulling away.

“In what world, dear Donghyuck?”

“This very one. You are very keen on avoiding the answer.” Despite his eyelids dropping, sleepiness dragging him down, Donghyuck was still as an annoyance as ever. He gently knocked their foreheads together. “It’s okay. You can stay delusional for a little longer.”

“But then what was Heejin doing in your room?” Renjun asked. “Playing Scrabble?”

“That sounds like a very _you_ date,” Donghyuck huffed, amused. He rubbed his face, then downed the rest of the coffee with a frown. “And I still don’t know what you’re talking about. I was alone all night.”

His face was honest as he said that. Renjun was about to rest the case when Donghyuck turned around to wave at Tiffany for a refill and he caught him scratching the back of his neck. The wound he noticed just moments ago peeked out between his fingers.

“How did you get that cut?” Renjun asked, his eyes boring holes into his neck, where his spine dipped under his shirt. Renjun knew what he was seeing, the long red cut was quite prominent against his warm skin.

Donghyuck turned back with a quizzical expression. “You ask very disturbing questions today. What cut?”

“On your neck. It’s pretty new.” On closer inspection, there was a bump on his neck, slight and almost unnoticeable but there. Donghyuck tapped his nape as he noticed it only now, his eyes widening with surprise.

“I don’t know. Maybe a souvenir from the forest? It’s very itchy.” He grimaced. “If we’re talking about wounds on necks, what about yours? Don’t think I haven’t noticed, it’s a pretty big scar.”

“I—” Renjun started, then halted. He got into a car accident. The driver got away but he got an ugly scar and missing memories of half a life. At least that was what he used to tell his friends or classmates who touched upon the topic. But somehow it didn’t sit well with him to lie to Donghyuck, not when he stuck with him so far into this hellish nightmare.

Renjun glanced back to meet with a pair of curiously glinting eyes, so warm and open. He looked away.

“I’ll tell you after we meet Hyunjin,” Renjun said. “It’s just – complicated.”

“Are you hoping that we die today and you don’t have to tell me anything?” Donghyuck teased, life slowly coming back to him thanks to the caffeine. Renjun thought of the rooftop of the motel, which somehow seemed to end up inevitably with death – a place where they couldn’t escape from, with one of the townsfolk around them. Shivers ran down his back just thinking about it.

He flicked Donghyuck’s forehead. “I do not wish for things like that.”

***

The wine tasted sweet on his tongue as he drank straight from the bottle. Renjun felt at peace finally – he was alone on the rooftop, just him and the glinting stars. Donghyuck had retired for a nap during the day but he wasn’t much of a help in his exhausted state anyway. Renjun finally didn’t feel the fear constantly pumping through his veins, he didn’t want to leave everything and flee. The darkness draped him like a velvety cocoon and the alcohol was making him putty, driving away from the anxiety that was building up in him throughout the day. It was a clear night for once, the stars and the moon accompanying him in his lone self.

His fear of finding death in this very rooftop distilled into an annoying hum in the back of his mind. He thought of faraway planets that birthed those creatures that took over this town, he thought of the boy who was sleeping away his tiredness. He thought of himself, a part of the past and future – and odd mixture of both and neither of them.

The door creaked behind him and he didn’t have to look back to see who it was. A pair of red Converses stopped beside him and Donghyuck plopped down, dangerously swinging his legs from the edge. Without question, he passed the bottle to Donghyuck, who took it with a grin.

“Liquid courage?” Donghyuck asked, mischievously. He bumped their shoulders, his warmth coming and going immediately. “Wouldn’t have thought of you.”

Renjun looked at Donghyuck, the lingering freedom he radiated. He looked at him, his silver curls pooling at his nape, his eyes reflecting the moonlight, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he drank the wine – he was so heart-wrenchingly beautiful among the stars, Renjun might be a bit tipsy but he wanted to remember this moment forever. 

“Are you ever afraid?” The words tore out of Renjun’s mouth, tumbling clumsily out without reflecting the true wonder that he felt.

Donghyuck threw his head back, laughing. It was free and loud, ringing back from the vast nothingness – a spot of colour in the monochromatic scenery.

“I’m fucking terrified,” Donghyuck spat. "But hey, I can't do much about it, can I?"

Renjun made grabby hands for the bottle, aching for the dullness of the alcohol to drown these fluttering feelings in his chest. They were two stranded men on the edge of their existence. It shouldn't be like this, they shouldn't have met in these infested lands, nor should they be materialising their fears in the eye of the upcoming event. Renjun felt the change coming like people anticipating the storm – the electricity in the air was a telltale sign that something was preparing. With a laugh, Donghyuck passed him back the bottle.

He looked up at the sky, tearing his eyes away from Donghyuck.

“I'm glad we've met,” Renjun confessed. As he reached back to lean back and support himself on his hands, his fingers brushed over Donghyuck’s. It was an innocent moment, held together only by their unwillingness to move.

“I bet you are,” Donghyuck said cheekily. He moved closer until their shoulders and knees touched and until his hot breath danced on Renjun’s neck. He left a small peck there, murmuring against the skin. “I’m glad too.”

Renjun wanted to lean in and steal a kiss from his lips, one that must have tasted sweet like wine and mischief but he was stopped by the loud squeak of the door behind them. Hyunjin peered out from behind the door which stood only slightly ajar. Her body was hidden, one feline eye staring at them. Renjun tensed, his body moving on its own – not even the lull of the alcohol could fight down his instincts to flee – and he stood, pulling Donghyuck on his feet. There was hesitance in her movements as she stepped out, half of her body still concealed, and it dawned on Renjun why. 

“We won't hurt you,” he said as pacifying as he could. Hyunjin had always made him uncomfortable, something about her was strange. “If you won't hurt us.”

At his words, she took a deep breath and when she finally came out of her hiding, Renjun almost couldn't recognize her. The void that was so apparent in her case was nowhere to be found, instead, an almost feverish glint resided in her eyes, pink colouring her cheeks. 

“So we meet again,” she said, slowly walking toward them. She stopped at a safe distance. Her dimples appeared once she smiled, toothy and still sad. “I missed you, Renjun.”

Somehow, the words _‘me too’_ wanted to spill out of his lips, choking him. The pictures and diary pages in his bag felt heavy, weighing him down with the memories of a friendship he didn’t remember. Now he knew they were precious to each other, growing up together – but he didn’t have the feelings accompanying the facts, he didn’t feel for Hyunjin anything other than pity.

Hyunjin watched him, his inner battle, the smile slowly withering from her lips. “Heejin was right. You don’t remember.”

“But you knew that, didn’t you?” Donghyuck butted in. “That’s why you sent us to the house.”

“I thought—” Her voice died, searching for recognition in Renjun’s eyes. “I thought he’d remember once I gave him some clues.”

Renjun wanted to apologize but he didn’t. He pursed his lips and tersely said, “I don’t.”

The disappointment in her eyes felt suffocating. She tilted her head, her gaze never leaving Renjun’s face. She must have realized something because, with a gasp, she stepped behind Renjun and pushed his hair away from his nape.

“What are you doing?” Renjun asked, wanting to pull away.

“You cut it out,” Hyunjin whispered. She carefully ran her fingertips on the scar, her voice wavering. She suddenly pulled away, hiding her trembling fists behind her back. Her tone was accusatory when she said, “You threw everything away. You promised you wouldn’t.”

“Look, Hyunjin, I don’t know what you’re talking about—”

“The chip—” she said, pushing her long, black hair to her shoulder to reveal her own nape. The scars were there, thin and silvery. “It’s the first step of turning us into those mindless zombies. They don’t tell us what it does exactly – I kind of suspect that it blocks independent thoughts.”

“What does it have to do with my memory loss?” Renjun reached back to touch the scar – a tag. He was tagged as part of Saker Keeper and however his past self tried to fight against it, it stayed carved into his skin.

“Because the chip is so intertwined with your brain functions, once your body accepts the chip – it’s part of you. We’ve seen it.” She still tried to make him remember. Renjun thought that losing friends was hard but seeing them again, behaving like strangers – it was harder. Because they didn’t gradually grow apart but their ties were cruelly cut. It reminded him of Doyoung and Johnny, the tragic end of a friendship. She sighed and began explaining. “Sometimes the chip doesn’t work well and when removed, the person loses their memories. What I don’t understand is why did you have to remove it? It didn’t work on you.”

She was desperate. She hesitated, Renjun saw on her. Sometimes she looked like she wanted to step closer, touch him, hug him but she held back. Renjun didn’t know how to answer her – once he just woke up, sticky blood spurring from the open wound on his neck, his fingers painted crimson with his own blood.

“But you look—you look fine.” Donghyuck cut in and Renjun heard the silent ‘ _now’_ at the end of the sentence. “And Heejin and Johnny – you are not like the others.”

Hyunjin walked to the brink of the rooftop and looked down. She held onto the bannister, the wind catching into her long hair.

“The three of us – I mean Renjun, Heejin and me,” Hyunjin began, her hand wringing as she talked. Her gaze flickered around, peeking down from the rooftop like she was waiting for someone to appear. “We realized that something was going on. We were the last ones in the experiment because our bodies rejected the initial chips. Maybe because we were so against the whole thing — Johnny charmed everyone into this, told them it’s the secret for eternal life. And they accepted it, without any second-guessing.”

“How can that be?” Donghyuck snorted. “This is sketchy at the best.”

“Johnny — he’s very persuasive. He figured out everyone’s weaknesses and he hit them there. He knew—” She took a shuddering breath and she looked at Renjun. “He knew that I was afraid of being left behind by you and Heejin. You both had huge dreams of making it big but I wanted to stay here. He figured it out and promised me that things wouldn’t change. Both of you would stay here with me. Forever.”

She turned away. “Which obviously was a lie. You left. But it was selfish of me, wanting to stop you.”

For a moment, Renjun saw the little girl in her who just wanted to stay close with her friends – an innocent wish that led to an avalanche of bad decisions which misguided her there.

“Do they know that the chip doesn’t work on you?” Renjun asked. “And Heejin?”

“They don’t suspect me but they don’t trust me either – Johnny has been watching us since you left.” She pulled her mouth aside in distaste. “I’m not in the inner circle but I know that something is going on – and as a friend of yours I felt like I needed to give you a heads up.”

Renjun walked to her side, his back resting against the railing. “That’s why you called me here?”

“On one part, yes.” Hyunjin turned to him, lowering her voice. Then she peeked back at Donghyuck, who sensed that the conversation was too private for him to overhear and retired to the stairs with the wine. “But on the other part… You’re aware that they’ll use him against you, right? It’s already begun.”

“What do you mean?” Renjun surprised at the urgency in his voice. A car pulled over in the parking lot, the gravel loud under its tires. Hyunjin’s breath caught in her throat as she tore away from the bannister.

“I have to go,” she whispered. Fear was setting on her face, her feet pounding through the distance of the rooftop.

“Wait!” Renjun called back. She stopped next to Donghyuck on the top of the stairs.

“He got Heejin,” Hyunjin said, as an afterthought. She didn’t look back at them but he heard the sorrow in her voice. “Don’t trust her anymore.”

***

“They’re turning you,” Renjun realized as Donghyuck walked in front of him, the cut on his nape fully on display. After hearing Hyunjin talking about the process of the takeover and Heejin’s odd behaviour, suddenly it was crystal clear even for his hazy brain. “They realized Heejin wasn’t just a shell.”

“I’ve lost you somewhere,” Donghyuck joked, easily swaying on his feet.

“We can’t talk about it here.” Renjun pulled him into his room. He lowered his voice into a mere whisper but even that was traitorously loud to his ears. “Heejin, she – Listen, I think Johnny realized she was in her senses. Do you remember when we caught them in that standoff in the diner? How scared Heejin was? That was the reason—Johnny _realized_ she was her own person.”

“I kinda get it,” Donghyuck slowly nodded. “But what does it have to do with me?”

“The cut on your nape – I saw Heejin leaving your room. She must’ve been the one who planted the chip in you.” Renjun cluttered the words, insistence growing inside him. Donghyuck was following him with his eyes, realization dawning on him too. “They are trying to turn you.”

Suddenly, Donghyuck stood from the armchair, straightening his back. Renjun saw the change in him, saw how distant he became, saw the familiar void in his eyes. It was working, Donghyuck’s body slowly accepting the chip implanted into him, taking away his thoughts and emotions. It wasn’t finished yet. At least Renjun hoped so.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Renjun,” he spat. He began walking toward Renjun, his hands stuffed in his pockets – Renjun knew too well that the knife laid there, always ready. He wasn’t afraid of Donghyuck but this person standing in front of him wasn’t him. “You and your little hypothesis about this town. Don’t you see that you’re the reason why we’re always in trouble?”

“Donghyuck,” Renjun willed his voice to stay calm. He reached out and touched his cheeks cautiously. “You’re not yourself.”

“I am,” Donghyuck said, ripping his face away from Renjun’s hand. “I’ve just started realizing things.”

Renjun’s mind flashed back to his nightmares where Donghyuck stood with _them_ , changing sides when it really mattered. He hated how reliant he became on him, how scary losing him from his side seemed. He wasn’t about to let that happen, not when he still had a chance on having him back. He gritted his teeth and held onto his shoulders, knocking their foreheads together. Donghyuck trashed against him, wanting to be let away. Renjun tapped away on his cheeks in the rhythm of a calm heartbeat.

Slowly, the trashing ceased, and Donghyuck stood there once again like he had just woken up from a dream. It flickered on and off, just like the neon sign of the hotel. They were running out of time before his body adjusted to the chip implemented into his flesh.

“You cut yours out,” Donghyuck said slowly, his fingertips running on the horizontal scar, red and protruding. He bit his lip, realization of what he should do coming to him. “You have to cut it out of me too.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I trust you,” Donghyuck said, certain. Soon a smile returned to his lips, “But make it prettier, we don’t want people to notice.”

The trip to the store was a quick one – they bought the strongest liquor and a lighter, everything that they needed. Donghyuck was lying in the bathtub, in only a ragged band T-shirt and underwears. He was already loopy from the alcohol as he threw his head back to peer over at Renjun. He was busy disinfecting the butterfly knife.

“Y’know, I haven’t anticipated that the first time I’m undressing in front of you will be the time when you cut a piece out of me,” he slurred happily, laughing at his own joke. “You’re truly a wonder, Renjun.”

“Thank you,” Renjun scoffed. He flicked the lighter on and held the edge of the knife over the flame. When the knife turned orangeish, with a shaky breath, Renjun asked, “Are you ready?”

“No. But I doubt I’ll ever be,” Donghyuck answered, taking another swing from the bottle, hissing at the taste. He put the liquor down on the tiles and accepted the towel Renjun handed to him. He bit down on the material, closing his eyes tightly.

“I’ll try to be as gentle as I can,” he promised.

Renjun pressed the knife down on the soft skin, blood spilling immediately. Donghyuck’s screams were engulfed by the shirt in his mouth, his face twisted painfully. Apologizes fell from Renjun’s lips as he worked, forcing the cut to reopen under the sharp edge of the knife. Crimson drops rolled down, painting the T-shirt with its colour and the stench of blood filled their nostrils. Renjun felt nauseous as he dropped the knife and picked the small metal chip from the open wound with his fingers. He pocketed the chip before he began cleaning the cut.

It was a long cut but shallow. After tending to it, the bleeding stopped relatively fast.

“We’re finished,” Renjun kissed the crown of Donghyuck’s head, treading through his curls with his fingers. His body shook with the pain of the cut and with the strength he tried to repress his screams and Renjun’s heart broke at the sight. “You’re okay.”

“How is it?” Donghyuck asked in a wavery voice, eyes swimming with tears.

“Perfect.”

***

“It’s a lot to take in,” Donghyuck said, as he laid on his stomach on Renjun’s bed. “The alien stuff. This invasion thing. It’s just – a lot.”

Renjun came out of the bathroom, finally finishing cleaning up the mess they’d created. In black trash bags, he placed all the bloodied clothes for later disposal. Now Donghyuck was loitering around in his room, still tipsy from the liquor and the pain, with a bathrobe on, blabbering about anything. Seeing him like this, trusting Renjun enough to let him do the impromptu surgery on him and even though it must’ve hurt like hell, he still stayed.

“Donghyuck, I think it’s time I finally told you.” Renjun started and Donghyuck tilted his head to the side, waiting. Renjun rushed past him to his hanging coat and took his notebook out from his inner pocket. The first few pages were glued together by the side. “Can you lend me your knife?”

Donghyuck's face reflected utter confusion and nodded. Renjun shuffled to fish the knife out of his back pocket, where the cleaned knife rested now temporarily. He cut the pages open with the eagerness and fear of opening Pandora's box. He had this notebook with him all the time, scribbling into it, trying to make sense of the world. But it held more than that – the pages glued together were a sobering reminder. He wanted to keep it with himself but he was afraid to read through over and over again – thus, he closed them away for good.

“What are you doing?” Donghyuck asked, trying to steal a peek at the new content.

Once all the pages were out for the open, Renjun held it out for Donghyuck, who accepted it. His touch was careful on the pages, as he skipped through them with furrowed brows. His bleary eyes concentrated on the pages, trying to make sense of the scribbles that made even Renjun confused.

“I don't remember my past. But you know that,” Renjun announced. “One morning I woke up in a foreign apartment, cradling the notebook to my chest. My brain – it was a clean slate. I couldn’t even remember my name.”

Renjun remembered waking up on the cold, hardboard floor of an empty apartment, the smell of soil and the metallic smell of blood filling his nostrils stirred him. His hands were sticky with blood and a huge gash on his nape pulsated painfully. He didn’t remember who he was or where he was — the only thing he knew that he should run, he should search for another location, stay in motion. Because resting was dangerous, an opportunity to get caught. His mind was jumping from one thought to another, searching for answers in the jumbled mess that were his thoughts.

His joints ached and the injury on his nape was blinding as he sat up. The notebook fell on the floor and opened on the first page. On it with rushed handwriting was written,

**Don’t ask questions, you won’t get them. Follow what I say.**

Renjun spent the first day of his new life reading through the instructions. Everything was settled for life. When he checked under a loose hardboard, there was plenty of money hidden to last him for years. He got out IDs and papers that seemed spotless and real but he didn’t remember them, he didn’t remember his own name. The notebook said he had to stay in the city but didn’t reason why he needed to stay put and lead a quiet life. The instructions detailed the high school he was to transfer to, reasons behind the absence of his parental figures and his sudden transfer at the middle of the year. Everything was settled by the writer of the pages, thought out and safe.

Words were spilling from Renjun’s mouth like a flood and Donghyuck was listening to his words carefully. Sometimes he glanced down the notebook, slipping through pages as Renjun recalled them, the instructions etched to his brain forever.

The words tumbled out of his mouth like he wanted to get rid of them, to get them out before they suffocated him. He circled the room and Donghyuck just watched him from the bed, drinking in every one of his words. He didn't cut in, he waited for him to say everything he wanted because he knew if he stopped Renjun now, he wouldn’t tell him more. He didn’t know much – a few measly pages of instructions were his leaders, more than 15 years worth of memories swiped out of his head.

“That’s all I remember.” Renjun shrugged. “It was easier not remembering – this town is just making me miserable.”

“And when was this?” Donghyuck asked, sobering up from the story.

“Around 2015, I think. The fake ID said I was born in 2000 and the numbers matched. I never second-guessed it.” Renjun sat down on the edge of the mattress, shoulder slouching. He was tired. “But as I know now, I had been 15 years old for a while.”

“They stopped looking for you after that? And you began ageing once the chip was removed?” Donghyuck pulled him to lay his head on his lap as he carded through his hair. Renjun closed his eyes, enjoying the momentary calmness.

“I think so.” He gave a small laugh. “Man, I’d be pushing my 50s if it wasn’t for the alien dudes. I owe them one for that.”

Donghyuck chuckled, then dramatically sighed. “I can’t believe I’m dating a 50-year-old stuck in the body of a young adult. I want my money back.”

Renjun’s eyes shot open as he pushed himself up on his elbows to look at Donghyuck. He blinked back at him, oblivious of his confusion.

“Are we dating?” Renjun asked, baffled.

“Are we _not_?” Donghyuck countered. The tip of his ears was turning red. “I thought we are.”

“No, no! We are. I was just unaware.”

“In this case—” Donghyuck grabbed the neckline of his shirt and pulled Renjun into a kiss. Renjun had never felt this much freedom since the beginning of his new life – it was always a looming threat for him, always there, always poisoning budding relationships. But Donghyuck was in this mess with him together, he knew that something was off with Renjun and he stuck by his side.

He tasted like cheap liquor and chapstick as he licked into Renjun’s mouth boldly. Renjun was drunk on the feeling alone, the soft press of his plump lips and his fingers caressing his hair – Donghyuck was a wonder and he didn’t want to let go of him. When Donghyuck pulled away for air, Renjun chased after his lips.

“So tell me about your plan once again.” Donghyuck probed, lying down on his stomach once again. He patted the space beside him for Renjun to snuggle closer.

He did, gladly.

***

“Donghyuck!” Johnny’s long arms wrapped around him as he was wolfing down the remaining French toast off his plate. They hadn’t noticed his appearance, too enamoured in their hungover state. Donghyuck sputtered in surprise, reaching for his juice to wash down the bite.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, between gasps of air.

Now that Renjun knew what to look for, he noticed Johnny’s subtle glances at Donghyuck’s nape and the self-satisfied smile that curved on his lips. The cut looked identical to the one they left on Donghyuck, a neat little line of red, no ragged edges, no betraying sign of the chip being removed.

“Sorry, Renjun but can I speak privately with him? An important update with his car.”

Renjun shrugged. He saw the slight panic in Donghyuck’s eyes as Johnny pulled his from the booth to the counter where they settled down. He schooled his face into a pleasant expression like he was glad to speak with him, eager to hear the details from Johnny.

Renjun turned the metal napkin holder so that it reflected them, a little blurry. He was out of earshot, but he wanted to see how the things were going. Step one of the plan relied heavily on how well Donghyuck played the mindless vessel, who listened to Johnny’s or any of the townsfolk’s words.

Donghyuck was nodding along to whatever Johnny was saying, a great actor. Renjun saw Johnny passing something to Donghyuck, a small metal thing that was quickly hidden away in his pocket. Johnny quickly explained, his eyes turning toward Renjun to check if he was watching them – Renjun calmly sipped from his coffee, looking like he was busy writing down something in his notebook. It was a quick exchange and only Donghyuck returned, face completely passive. Renjun’s stomach churned with an unpleasant feeling.

“How’s your car?”

“It’s a bit complicated.”

***

“I know it sounds crazy,” Donghyuck began when they stepped out from the diner. His expression never changed since meeting with Johnny. “But I think we should look around the forest once more.”

“Are you crazy? Do you remember what happened last time?” Renjun felt it was needless to ask, the memory still haunting them both. But Donghyuck put his hand on his shoulder and winked at him. Renjun wanted to look around whether someone was following them.

“I have good feelings about it,” Donghyuck said shortly. “But you’ve to trust me on this.”

“That’s a dirty move,” Renjun mumbled. He reached out his hand so Donghyuck would take it and lead him where they should be.

The clear sky let the sunlight warm them a little bit. In days like these, the woods didn’t seem to be the same eerie place they were used to. The top of the trees swayed with the light breeze and Renjun took a deep breathe, enjoying the scent of the pines. They were crossing through the forest, only exchanging small talks – Renjun could see the curve of Donghyuck’s tense back, perking up at every little sound the forest made. Somehow, Renjun felt at peace, even though he knew he shouldn’t. _They_ were there, infecting the place with their being, hiding between the dense trees.

“What’s in your bag?” Renjun asked. Donghyuck was not the type to carry around unnecessary stuff. 

“You’ll see.”

Renjun legs were getting tired. He looked at the time, suddenly realizing.

“It’s Friday,” Renjun mumbled to himself, checking his wristwatch. He’d been in Saker Keeper for more than 10 days and time was ticking away quickly.

“Yeah, and?”

He looked up at Donghyuck, who nervously scanned their path and decided not to share this one with him. Yet. He didn’t know what the conversation involved with Johnny but since then, Donghyuck seemed to be always on the edge. Maybe someone was following them or maybe Donghyuck was wired – he wasn’t about to share important details with the possibility of someone overhearing them.

“You’ll see,” Renjun mocked. He saw the corner of Donghyuck’s mouth curling upward but he pushed it down quickly.

The deeper they got into the woods, the more Renjun began to realize they weren’t going to be chased out. The comprehension almost disconcerted him the same – they were allowed to wander in the woods because they want them there. They had a goal with letting them in and Renjun felt the panic close around his throat – it was one thing that they could get there but could they also leave? He was about to voice his concerns when Donghyuck let out a sigh of relief.

“We’re here,” he announced. Donghyuck let go of his hand and stepped out of his line of view. In front of them, a few hundred meters away stood the saucer – it was a huge machine and it tore trees out by roots as it landed. At the bottom of the spaceship, the entrance gaped like a mouth, awaiting. Like a fly for honey, Renjun felt the immerse need to walk into it, even if he knew it was a trap.

“You—You wanted to show me this?” Renjun narrowed his eyes.

Without answering, Donghyuck began toward the spaceship, beckoning Renjun to follow him. “C’mon. We don’t have all day.”

Renjun stopped at the bottom of the stairs, looking around the woods once more. He didn’t know what he was looking for – someone to jump out, to scare them away, to stop them? It was unlikely. With a sigh, he walked in. The inside of the spaceship was a huge round space – one side of it was what Renjun supposed to be the launch centre, an intricate table of hundreds of small buttons, switches and toggles; the other side took his breath away.

In the spaceship, numerous booths stood in rows, filled with what seemed like bodies in preservative liquid. As they strolled around, they saw the familiar faces – there were Tiffany, Debby, Jisung, the whole town. Only one booth was broken in, glass in shreds and no artificial body in it. Renjun walked there, his name written on a small plaque.

“These are vessels,” Renjun realized. He walked around, inspecting the perfectly made bodies. Everything was made exceptionally well, every little detail perfectly fitting to the reality. He furrowed his eyebrows and voiced his doubt, “Why do they use the human bodies when they have these?”

Donghyuck gave a non-committal shrug and disappeared behind the booths. Renjun followed him and a little scream left his lips when he saw what was there.

In a heap laid dozens of bodies, all lifeless, thrown away copies. Renjun walked to them, out of disturbing curiosity and touched one of them – the vessels were surprisingly firm and less elastic than the skin-like texture promised. He tried to move one hand and it hardly bent.

“They were clumsy—” Renjun whispered to himself. “They don’t use these because they still haven’t figured out how to make them move like humans.”

Suddenly, everything was clear – why he was dead and alive at the same time. He stole the artificial copy of himself, placing it in the way he knew Doyoung would find it. It called attention on Saker Keeper for a while and they had to lay low during that time – and during that time, Renjun could escape from that hellhole until they noticed the missing vessel. Quickly looking around for Donghyuck, he noticed that he wasn’t there. Renjun stood up and jogged to the booths to share with him the insight.

He found Donghyuck staring at a booth, hidden under a piece of canvas. He was standing there, peeking under the material, eyes glued to the glass. Renjun’s excitement died down seeing him like that and when he walked to stand beside him, he realized why he was behaving oddly.

“They made one for you.”

A copy of Donghyuck was levitating in the liquid, ready to be used. Donghyuck stepped away, his breath becoming laboured but Renjun couldn’t tear his eyes away from the body – the same silvery curls, round features, long legs. Suddenly something cold was pressed to his temple.

Donghyuck was holding a gun against his head. His hands shook as he pushed the gun closer to Renjun’s temple, the cold metal pushing into his sensitive skin. When Renjun tried to turn around to have a better look at Donghyuck, he yelled at him.

“Don’t move!”

“What are you doing, Donghyuck?” Renjun asked and willed his voice not to quiver. Disappointment and fear sat heavily on his tongue, making it hard to talk without a sob threatening to resurface from his throat.

“All of this happened because of you. They won’t let us away while you’re still alive,” Donghyuck said between sobs. “I want to live, Renjun.”

Renjun exhaled through his nose, holding up his hands. He decided to slowly turn around and Donghyuck didn’t stop him. Heavy drops of tears were rolling down on Donghyuck’s cheeks, colouring his nose red as he fought for air to fill his lungs. “Do they want you to kill me?”

“They told me you did something to them,” Donghyuck spat. “That you ruined the research. They are stranded on Earth, abandoned and vicious because you decided to pull a little _prank_.”

“I decided to save my life,” Renjun hissed. He stepped closer and Donghyuck stepped one back. “Do you think they’d have just lived calmly in Saker Keeper? Wouldn’t have tried to spread and invade humanity as it is?”

Donghyuck shook his head, violent cries shaking through his body. “I’m sorry, Renjun.”

He reached out to stop him with a loud, “No!”

Donghyuck pulled the trigger. Renjun waited to the pain to spread in him, to the bullet to tear through him. But nothing came. He slowly blinked his eyes open and Donghyuck came into view.

“Wha—” Donghyuck pressed his palm on his mouth.

“Don’t speak,” Donghyuck warned in hushed whispers. His eyes were still glinting with tears but they were familiar and warm. When he saw Renjun nod, he removed his hand and quickly went through his bag, pulling out the T-shirt he wore yesterday – it was still sticky with blood. “Put this on.”

Renjun followed through, quickly changing out of his clothes to the bloodied shirt. Donghyuck stayed silent, packing Renjun’s clothes away and from time to sobbed loudly. Renjun just understood that someone was overhearing them but not seeing what they were doing.

“You’re dead,” Donghyuck whispered when everything was ready. He slipped his knife into Renjun’s pocket. “Have this. It might come handy.”

***

Johnny slowly clapped, walking toward Donghyuck. Renjun couldn’t see, but he heard the cheering of the rest of the town as they caught a glimpse of Donghyuck carrying Renjun’s lifeless body. He felt Donghyuck falter – he probably didn’t anticipate such a welcome. Still, he was a born actor, tears running down on his cheeks, showing exactly what they wanted to see. Loyalty to them under any circumstances.

“Good job kid. You’ve done it,” Johnny said and he patted his shoulder. Donghyuck pulled Renjun closer to his chest to hide him, hide his non-existent deadly injury and his shallowed breathing. “Jisung! Take the body.”

Donghyuck opened his mouth to disagree, to offer to carry Renjun’s body to whatever place they intended him himself.

But Johnny pressed a gun to Donghyuck’s head and the words died in his throat.

“What?”

“You thought you were clever,” Johnny hissed through gritted teeth. “You thought you could waltz back here and walk out unharmed, right? Without killing this little parasite right here.”

Johnny nudged Renjun’s face with the gun. There was no need to lie even more – the plan failing greatly. Donghyuck let go of Renjun and he fell on his feet, defiantly staring back at Johnny. Having a gun pointed to his face twice in less than an hour felt surreal but it was there, ready to send a bullet through his head.

“Why are you doing this?”

The town square was filling up with people. Their initial cheering died down and their eyes quickly filled with murderous intention. They surrounded them in a tight rope, leaving no place for them to run. Renjun’s eyes were looking around for a small gap between the bodies, an opening for them to push through and never come back.

“For the sake of humanity,” Johnny spat, pushing the gun closer. Renjun felt his skin bruising under it but that was the smallest of his problems. “You’ve _never_ understood – but it’s better for them, better for everyone. Look around! Look at these faces – they have everything they’ve ever wanted.”

“Someone invading their bodies and becoming mindless zombies is hardly everything they’ve ever wanted,” Renjun countered. His eyes slid through the crowd, gaze locking with Heejin’s. No recognition came from her besides deep hatred. “Why did you have to destroy them?”

“We implemented them but they still stayed too _human,_ ” Johnny snarled like the word was disgusting on his tongue. “If they were not willing to accept us into their minds and bodies, we couldn't take over entirely. They still felt, they still loved and hated — and we couldn’t divert these feelings and they grew too strong. And you used this – _you_ were the one who killed one of us.”

“What do you mean?” Renjun asked to stretch the time. He tapped the seconds on his tight, time ticking away too slow.

Johnny pushed him to his knees. Donghyuck moved to catch him but the gun in Johnny’s hands stopped him. He wrapped his hand around Renjun’s neck.

“You overtook one of ours and cut him out of your body – we gave you forever and you just threw it away.” Johnny’s grip on his neck cut the airflow, his lungs burned with the lack of oxygen. He tried to fight for it, crawling at Johnny’s hand to let go of him but he held on even when the blood spurted from the wounds. “Humankind always made ridiculous decisions.”

“Johnny, let him go!” Donghyuck called and he pointed his gun to Johnny.

Johnny let him off and Renjun gasped for air. Tears rolled down on his cheeks as he fought off the dizziness he felt. Johnny laughed at Donghyuck’s attempt of threatening him. He wrapped his fingers on the barrel of the gun and lowered it. Donghyuck braced himself and pulled the trigger – nothing happened. Johnny shook his head, disappointed.

“Did you really think I’d give you more than one bullet?”

Johnny looked around them, at the empty faces of the crowd and he snapped his fingers. The people pushed forward, launching to get a piece of Renjun and Donghyuck – this was the end, Renjun thought as hands grabbed him, pulling and tearing away his clothes, his hair, his skin.

Suddenly a Honda Civic turned onto the street, the peeling grey paint and the duck-taped on side-view mirrors a familiar sight for Renjun. He couldn’t believe the precision that Jaemin came with to rescue them, after the quick message he sent from the neighbouring town a few days prior.

**To: Jaem**

If u don’t hear from me from now on, pls pick me up on Friday

I might be in trouble then

As in deadly trouble

Jaemin was the only one he could reach out to get him away from the town, too stubborn to be easily swayed to stay there. What he didn’t expect was that Saker Keeper timed their elimination on the same day. 

He saw how Jaemin faltered, stepping on the break when seeing the crowd on the middle of the street. But then his eyes locked with Renjun’s, and his face steeled. Revving the engine, with the driving style that usually left Renjun nauseous, he stepped on the gas and the car flew out like a bullet. The crowd parted as the car raced toward them, jumping out of the way – but Renjun knew better than to move. He quickly grabbed Donghyuck’s hand to stop him from escaping and the car turned right in front of them in a pretty curve. Renjun threw the door open, pushing Donghyuck in.

“I knew it damnit,” Jaemin yelled when they jumped into the backseats, bodies and teeth knocking together. Renjun immediately shut the door. “I knew that I cannot leave you alone, look what you’ve gotten into!”

“It’s not important now, go!” Renjun screamed back and at the same time, a bullet took the side-view mirror.

Muttering in himself of a promise to give the bill for Renjun, Jaemin pressed down on the gas pedal and turned the steering wheel until the car turned around, leaving tire prints on the concrete. Despite knowing little to nothing about the situation, Jaemin barely avoided hitting any of the townsfolk while speeding through the streets.

In a blur, Renjun caught Hyunjin’s eyes and sad smile and he yelled, “Stop!”

“I won’t stop, Renjun! I don’t know if you’ve noticed but we’re in danger right now,” Jaemin shouted back, eyes glued on the road. They were nearing the border of the town, the line after they were safe and sound.

Remorse filled Renjun, weighing him down – perhaps he didn’t remember Hyunjin but she still helped them and she was still human. She was the last one and Renjun didn’t want to think about her losing the last remnants of her humanity to Saker Keeper. Still, the car sliced through the streets with the highest speed that Jaemin could extort from the old car.

“You have many things to explain,” Jaemin grunted, his fingers turning white on the steering wheel. His eyes flashed to Donghyuck in the rear-view mirror. “And who’s that?”

“Uh, Lee Donghyuck,” Renjun introduced him and Donghyuck gave a meekly little wave, still catching his breath from their escape. “My boyfriend?”

“Deadly trouble and a boyfriend?” He whistled. The sign ‘ _Saker Keeper Awaits For Your Return_ ’ blasts by them, indicating that they’d reached the edge of the town. The one road that led out of Saker Keeper stretched ahead of them, embraced by the forest. “Nice. You aren’t holding back.”

Renjun shushed him and Jaemin just shrugged, turning on the radio.

“Is this over?” Donghyuck asked, after a while, peeking back at the receding silhouette of Saker Keeper. The town which stuck in the ‘80s, the people who were no longer human, the threat they were to Renjun and Donghyuck. Even he, who went through several days in that place, felt like it was only a fever dream, which he was to wake up from tomorrow, realizing nothing was real.

But Saker Keeper stood there. It was on the maps, its stories hidden in archives and libraries.

He took Donghyuck’s still trembling fingers into his hands, lacing their fingers. Donghyuck looked at him with a small smile, like he just tasted freedom.

“No,” Renjun decided. The smile died on Donghyuck’s lips. “This is not the end. They’ll look for us.”

He looked back – at the place something so much bigger than them was going on, at the place which story sounded insane. There was no way Saker Keeper let them get away so easily, not when they wished for Renjun’s death more than anything. He turned back to Donghyuck and patted his dishevelled hair, pecking his forehead.

“But as for now, we’re out of the town.”


End file.
